Secretary touts voting reform
Duane Winn   Pipestone County Star   09 November 2005

Mary Kiffmeyer has the sort of winning personality that makes Lawrence Welk and lollipops seem like natural companions to politics.

Kiffmeyer spent most of her time Wednesday (Nov. 2) at Good Samaritan Village in Pipestone wooing the residents with her piano playing of old-time favorities, including one of Welk?s theme songs. Later, she led a quiz which highlighted certain facts about Minnesota. And then she rewarded everyone with a lollipop.

?That?s always the best part,? said Kiffmeyer, Minnesota?s secretary of state.

Kiffmeyer also took a few moments to clear up some misconceptions about her office. ?I don?t answer the phone for the governor,? she said. ?I?m not that kind of secretary.?

What Kiffmeyer and her staff focus on is the keeping of state records and business filings, as well as serving as the overseer of Minnesota elections.

Good Samaritan Village residents were among the first to learn about what Kiffmeyer called a ?major leap forward in voter rights? for Minnesotans.

The secretary of state?s office has negotiated a contract with Election Systems and Software to provide ballot-making machines to Minnesota polling places which can detect and correct procedural errors on ballots.

The purchase of the machines, which will cost approximately $4,900 apiece, will be funded through the Help America Vote Act passed by Congress in 2002. According to Kiffmeyer, Minnesota has already received $35 million as its share of the federal election. The state legislature has already authorized its expenditure.

Every precinct in Minnesota will have an additional $7,500 to spend during the next election cycle in 2006, said Kiffmeyer. Precincts may use the money to upgrade their equipment to make it easier for senior citizens and handicapped persons to vote. A second priority will be to provide optical scanning equipment to minimize ballot errors.

?Usually, rural Minnesota doesn?t see this kind of money to help with elections,? said Kiffmeyer. ?It?s a good start.?

This increased state and federal oversight over the election process, Kiffmeyer said, will be a boon to Minnesota voters, especially those in rural parts of the state.

?The ability to detect and correct procedural errors on ballots is something voters in many Minnesota polling places have not had; only those who used precinct-based optical scan voting machines in their polling places have had this opportunity until now,? said Kiffmeyer. ?Areas of our state without this technology ? roughly half the precincts containing 20 percent of the population ? have not had this opportunity, which means those areas of the state have had higher ballot error rates and more votes that have not counted. That is about to change.?

Kiffmeyer said that disabled voters, particularly those with visual impairments, have not experienced the same privacy and independence that other voters take for granted.

?It is said that there are three levels of inclusion for people with disabilities: access, accommodation and transformation,? she said. ?Until now, through the help of election judges, we have provided access and accommodation for voters with disabilities. What we are talking about here is transformation. This will completely change the way we provide for the inclusion of voters with disabilities in our state.?