Steve Simon likes to say that he’s in the “democracy business.”
Business is brisk under Simon’s watch as Minnesota’s secretary of state, with voter turnout among the highest nationwide for nearly every election. For that and other key reasons, Minnesotans should re-elect Simon on Nov. 6.
Of course, some will have already voted before Election Day during the “no-excuses” absentee voting period. That expanded capability to engage in our democracy can be credited in part to a bill sponsored by Simon during his days as a DFL legislator from St. Louis Park. Those efforts have paid off, with 2018 vote totals already far surpassing the pace of the 2014 midterms and even the hotly contested 2016 presidential election.
The expanded access reflects Simon’s belief in bolstering participation in elections, and by extension our collective civic life. It’s an ethos that stands in stark contrast to the disgraceful, antidemocratic attempts to suppress voting through onerous, often racially motivated restrictions enacted in North Dakota, Georgia and several other states this year.
View the complete October 26 editorial by the Star Tribune Editorial Board October 26, 2018 here.