Minnesota Legislators Seek Input on New Online Registration System
[Image courtesy of MNVotes]
A few weeks ago, I blogged about the launch of a new Minnesota online registration tool.
Now, legislators of both parties are calling for hearings and possible legislation to address what they are concerned is a lack of authority on the part of Secretary of State Mark Ritchie to establish online registration. Ritchie and legislative Republicans were often at odds during last year’s fight over voter ID, but the latest bipartisan questions about online registration were also triggered by a letter from the state’s legislative auditor.
The Star-Tribune has more:
The DFL Senate leader in charge of election issues said on Monday that the new online voter registration set up by the Secretary of State should be under legislative purview.
“I agree with Legislative Auditor Jim Nobles’ assessment that this system should be implemented with enabling legislation,” DFL Sen. Katie Sieben, chair of the Senate’s elections committee, said in a statement on Monday.
A few weeks ago, DFL Secretary of State Mark Ritchie set up the online registration system without specific instructions from the Legislature to create it. While he and his office have said he had the authority to set up the website to allow Minnesotans to register to vote and update their registration, Republican lawmakers questioned his authority to do so.
Last week, Nobles underscored those questions in a letter to lawmakers, bolstering concerns about the registration system.
Sieben’s belief in the need for legislation on the issue adds further doubt to whether Ritchie appropriately used his authority to create the system.
Not surprisingly, however, the bipartisan interest in the online system does not necessarily suggest that both parties will agree on what should be done and when:
On Monday, Republican lawmakers asked Sieben to hold an interim hearing on the system to address Ritchie’s authority as well as security concerns about it.
Republican Senate leader David Hann, of Eden Prairie, and Sen. Scott Newman, of Hutchinson, said that Ritchie "circumvented the legislative process" to create the online voter registration system.
Sieben, DFL-Newport, said in reply Monday evening: "I intend to call a hearing to review this issue and any possible legislation that may arise during the upcoming legislative session. I agree with Legislative Auditor Jim Nobles’ assessment that this system should be implemented with enabling legislation. However, we are unable to take any official action on legislation prior to the 2014 session."
It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out. While traffic to the new website is not yet huge, enough people have begun to use it (almost a thousand people in the first few weeks) that any substantial changes could provoke a reaction and reactivate the partisan battles that have consumed Minnesota election policy for the last few years.
Stay tuned!