Opinion editor’s note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Minnesota Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.
More than 76 million Americans — including around 1 million Minnesotans — have already voted. For the rest, Tuesday is the day to have your voice heard and vote counted.
And it will be counted, despite disinformation emanating from foreign and domestic sources souring some citizens’ trust in America’s election season. In fact, despite an unprecedented pandemic and endemic doubt cast on and beyond Election Day 2020, that presidential year vote is considered the most secure ever. Additional safeguards should make this year’s voting protocols even more protected, especially here at home.
“From an administration standpoint, the [voting] numbers are good; the level of calm is good,” said Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon. “My twin goals or wishes for this election cycle are high turnout and low drama, and so far we have indications that we’ll get mostly both of those things.”
Among additional reasons for the impressive participation are “good laws, including some good new laws, which are really pro-voter and pro-access, while balancing security at the same time,” said Simon. These “good, clear laws” include very specific processes on only allowing legal votes. In fact, added Simon, a study spanning the years since 2015 reported that of the nearly 13.4 million total votes cast in Minnesota over that span there were only three noncitizens who voted. That’s three too many, Simon is quick to clarify, but overall “a microscopically low number.”
That kind of efficacy and efficiency belies the worries some have about America’s elections. And unfortunately, just like so many other aspects of the current cultural, social and political environment, the confidence levels are split among partisan lines. In fact, according to a new Pew Research poll released last week, while 73% of voters say the election “will be run and administered well or somewhat well,” only 57% of those voting Republican in the presidential race say so compared to 90% of those voting for the Democrat.
