'No excuse' voting polls open Friday in Red Lake, bill author visits site

RED LAKE -- "Biinjwebinigedaa" didn't exactly roll off Rep. Steve Simon's tongue Thursday afternoon, but that was exactly why he was in Red Lake. Simon, DFL-Hopkins, traveled to the Red Lake Indian Reservation to meet with the Red Lake Political Education Committee and view one of the absentee voting sites his bill made possible.

Simon drafted HF 894, the "no excuses absentee voting bill," which was passed by the Legislature in 2013. Simon is running for Minnesota Secretary of State; he is currently the chairman of the Election Committee in the Minnesota House.

Biinjwebinigedaa translates roughly as "let's all vote," explained Michelle Pacquin-Johnson, co-chairwoman of the Red Lake Political Education Committee.

Simon said he was thinking of rural areas like Red Lake when he wrote the bill; a bill that took seven years to become law.

"It affects a lot of communities, both geographic and demographic," Simon said. "The key thing is this was done with broad bipartisan support."

The change in voting law allows people to vote up to 46 days prior to an election without stipulations. Simon's father, who has advanced Parkinson's disease, was one person who would have had to provide an excuse as to why he wouldn't be able to make it to the polls, he said. Early voting starts Friday.

This revised law is a benefit to people who live on the Red Lake Indian Reservation because transportation used to be an obstacle in getting to a polling place on Election Day.

"Because we have absentee voting, now every day is an Election Day," Pacquin-Johnson said.

Absentee and early voting in Red Lake was part of a pilot program to establish a centralized satellite office outside of the county seat in Bemidji. Bemidji is located at the southern end of the county, approximately 30 miles from many voters in Red Lake and up to 70 miles for voters in Ponemah. The satellite office was created with the assistance of River Bluffs Strategies and Four Directions based out of South Dakota.

"For us, geographically as we are laid out as a county, it makes sense," Pacquin-Johnson said. "There are a lot of families here that can't make it to the polls because of lack of transportation or cost."

The Red Lake Indian Reservation is in the center of Beltrami County Commissioner Tim Sumner's district. Sumner is co-chair of the Red Lake Political Education Committee.

Simon said he's met with more than 40 county auditors in Minnesota's 87 counties and half believe there will be an uptick in voting since passage of the "no excuses" bill and the other half of auditors he's met with say it's too early to tell. He's planning to meet with Beltrami County Auditor/Treasurer JoDee Treat.

"They're the ones on the frontlines," Simon said.

The site in Red Lake will be using prior election judges to monitor the polls and will be staffed with two people. All four districts on the Red Lake Indian Reservation: Red Lake, Little Rock, Redby and Ponemah, allow for same day voter registration. However, absentee voting must be done at the Red Lake Tribal Headquarters location, 24200 Council St. in Red Lake.

Pacquin-Johnson said during the primary election in August, there were 2,400 tribal members registered to vote in Red Lake. There were 24,183 registered voters total in Beltrami County.

Pacquin-Johnson said voter turnout has historically been pretty good as a whole but it is about making the opportunity available to everyone.

"We're working on a social media campaign to capture youthful engagement," Pacquin-Johnson said. The committee is working on a television commercial and will be using Facebook to spread the biinjwebinigedaa message.

Simon said college students are one group who will be able to take advantage of the new rule. Although most don't vote when it's not an election year, he said, they have the opportunity to use a new tool.

"I'm here today because it's a good opportunity to get the word out," Simon said.

Honoring tribal IDs

While Simon was in Red Lake, Tribal Chairman Darrell G. Seki Sr. took the opportunity to learn Simon's take on two issues affecting Indian Country: tribal IDs and racial profiling.

Simon said the parameters to obtain a tribal identification card are high and although secretaries of state in the past have not agreed with his position, he believes the cards should be honored.

"They ought to be recognized," Simon said. "They ought to be used."

Simon said the Secretary of State doesn't have a direct role in racial profiling, but that it has to be stopped.

"I've heard...statistics and stories of not just this area but of others in the state, too. We've got to cut that down to zero," Simon said. "There's no place for that in Minnesota, anywhere."

The Red Lake absentee voting center will officially open Friday with a kick-off event at the Red Lake Tribal Council Headquarters. Beginning at 10 a.m., interested voters will be given the opportunity to register and vote absentee at the Red Lake site in the library. Refreshments, T-shirts, buttons and non-partisan literature will also be available at a table set up outside the office.

"It's going to rain tomorrow," joked committee member Ed Strong.

"We'll get a canopy," Pacquin-Johnson countered. "They can't shut us down!"

More information on voting can be found at mnvotes.org or by visiting the PEC's Facebook page.