Democrats are revealing how nervous they are about the 2024 election by how they are going into overdrive to change voting laws to bolster their turnout in the name of “exclusivity” and “democracy.”
In Arizona, Democrats enacted new voting regulations that will make it easier for non-citizens to illegally vote in the presidential election, potentially swinging the all-important 11 Electoral Votes from the Grand Canyon to the Democratic column.
Now, Democrats in Minnesota are placing special polling places in the heart of their biggest group of voters who do not have typically high turnout: college students.
The Daily Caller writes:
The bill, HF 3447, requires county auditors and municipal clerks in Minnesota to place temporary voting locations on college and university campuses that ask for them. Democrat state Rep. Kristi Pursell argued during the House Elections Committee hearing on HF 3447 that it would “remove proven barriers to participation” despite the state’s existing laws that give ample opportunities and time for residents to vote.
“HF 3447 is an opportunity to ensure more college students are able to cast a ballot and perhaps for the first time,” Pursell said. She argues that many post-secondary campuses do not host election-day polling places, which causes a disparity in the number of voters.
“For example, in District 58A, where I represent, there are two small liberal arts colleges: one of which has an on-campus polling place on election day, one of which does not. And we see the pretty stark disparity in voter participation in each of those,” Pursell said. “HF 3447 will remove proven barriers to participation information, transportation, and time for young adults currently in colleges of all kinds of institutions across Minnesota. Given that young adults are least likely to own a car, and many 18- and 19-year-olds do not even have a driver’s license, it can be very difficult for them to reach early voting and Election Day voting sites.”
Minnesota’s election laws already allow for “no excuses needed” absentee and mail-in voting, giving voters over 40 days to cast a ballot before election day. Still, several Minnesota students argued in front of the committee that despite the state leading the nation in student voter turnout, their state’s laws were not inclusive enough.
This is not the first move Democrats in the state have made to try and bolster the turnout for groups who love them. In 2023, a judge threw out a challenge by a conservative group to a voting law that allowed criminals to vote.
Democracy Docket noted, “Prior to the enactment of the legislation by the state’s Democratic-controlled Legislature, Minnesotans with felony convictions were permitted to regain their voting rights only after the completion of their entire sentences — which often include years- or decades-long periods of probation.
Under the new legislation, Minnesotans’ voting rights are restored immediately after release from incarceration — a practice that the Minnesota Voters Alliance lawsuit argued stood in direct violation of the Minnesota Constitution. According to the lawsuit, individuals on supervised release, probation, or work release because of a felony conviction have “not been restored to all civil rights” and are therefore ineligible to regain voting rights until they are fully discharged from their sentences.”
The judge disagreed, ruling that the legislature has the power to decide who can vote, which, unsurprisingly in this case, means more voters for themselves.
To Rerun 2020 for MN