Letter: Democracy working in Minnesota

To the Editor:

Minnesotans are civic-minded. Even in an off-year election, more than 2.1 million eligible voters went to the polls Nov. 2.

Minnesotans can be proud we again led the nation in voter turnout. Our cost-effective and secure elections system continues to handle high levels of voter turnout because of the commitment to excellence demonstrated by election judges and officials.

Over 30,000 Minnesotans, who are our neighbors, friends, and family members, volunteered as election judges to ensure voters could cast their ballots with ease and confidence. In addition, thousands of township, city and county election staff worked long hours, before, during and after the election to make sure that each vote was accurately tallied.

Then too, there are the multitudes of citizens who answered democracy’s call by working on political campaigns or being candidates for office.

I express my heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you for making our state’s election system a national model.

I thank members of the Legislature that worked to pass election law changes that were the result of suggestions made by election judges and officials after 2008.

Changes were implemented and made a big difference. Military voters had more time to receive and return their ballots. These ballots were processed uniformly at the county or city level soon after they were received, which gave citizens who made errors on their ballot materials an opportunity to correct the error and cast their ballots properly.

I encourage all Minnesotans to take a moment to express their appreciation for these exceptional servants to our democracy.

Mark Ritchie

St. Paul

Mark Ritchie is Minnesota secretary of state.

Tags: opinion, letters, politics, elections