The Minnesota Secretary of State does a bunch of stuff (they keep records of who’s a notary public, they register businesses, they publish the Minnesota Legislative Manual) but their primary job is overseeing elections, voter registration, and voting. Steve Simon was first elected Secretary of State in 2014 and has done an excellent job ever since at standing up to Republican attempts at intimidation and protecting the rights of Minnesotans to vote.

On the ballot:

Tad Jude (Republican)
Seth Kuhl-Stennes (Green)
George “Chip” Tangen (Libertarian)
Steve Simon (DFL)

Tad Jude (Republican)

Tad Jude ran for Hennepin County Attorney in 2022, where he was noteworthy for his ad that looked like the worst Batman movie ever, and for his disinterest in answering questions from me or anyone else. This year, he did respond to my e-mail asking who he thought had won the 2020 election by saying “I recognize that Joseph P. Biden was certified as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.” Saying “I recognize that Biden was certified the winner” has become the go-to option for Republicans who want to toe the line of Trump’s big lie and deny the fact that Biden won without sounding completely deranged. I have no idea whether there’s some significance to the P (Joe Biden’s middle name is Robinette) or if this was a typo.

Anyway, Tad Jude wants to implement mandatory ID at the polls (something Minnesotans rejected by referendum in 2012); he also isn’t willing to stand up to Trump even to the point of saying that Biden won the 2020 election. Absolutely do not trust this clown with elections.

Seth Kuhl-Stennes (Green)

Seth Kuhl-Stennes has a mix of positions that align with what Steve Simon has been doing for the last 12 years (continue to use paper ballots with electronic readers, allow for early voting, etc.) and some stuff that’s relatively novel. I’m going to focus on the novel stuff. I think it’s important to note that none of these items are actually within the purview of the Secretary of State to decide; they would all require legislative action. (He says he’d “lead” on these issues).

• He wants to allow currently incarcerated people to vote. In Minnesota, you can vote once you’re out of prison, but you cannot vote if you’re currently incarcerated. (I agree with him on this; I think incarcerated people should still be able to vote. In Maine and Vermont, they can.)

• He wants to allow permanent residents who are not US citizens to vote. (From an e-mail conversation about this: “I support this because under our current immigration system, folks can be legal permanent residents for several years and sometimes decades even if they would like to become US citizens. This is a modern day form of taxation without representation.”) Ed pointed out that this was routinely legal in the past. Part of my concern about this is practical. Non-citizens can’t vote in federal elections and saying “you can vote in local and state elections” seems like a setup for accidentally tripping someone up (and the penalties for voting illegally are really harsh). He does support the other current requirements (18 year minimum age, MN resident for 20 days, and not under a court order revoking the right to vote).
  
• He wants to make ballot access easier for third parties and independent candidates. Currently, if you want to run as a major party candidate, you can file to run in the primary by paying a fee. (It’s $100 to run for the legislature.) This does not necessarily get you on the final ballot, though; it puts you on the primary ballot. If you’re running as anything other than a DFLer or Republican, there’s no primary and you don’t have to pay a fee; instead, you have to collect signatures.
  
  There are a couple of important things to know about the signature collection. You have to collect them on paper; you have to collect all of them during the 15-day filing period (you can’t get started early); and you have to collect 500 signatures to be on a state legislative ballot, 1,000 signatures for US Congress, and 2,000 signatures for US Senate. Also, since this is on paper and illegible signatures get thrown out, you have to collect more than the 2,000 because there will always be some that get tossed. Also, despite all these barriers, Marisa Simonetti the Tarantula Tosser managed to get on the ballot as an Independent candidate for US Senate.
  
  Seth would like independent and minor-party candidates to have the option of paying a filing fee instead of collecting signatures; he would like to lower the number of signatures required; and he would like to expand the petition period. He declined to offer a specific number he would advocate for.

• He wants the FCC’s Equal-time rule to apply to minor parties, and adds (in the e-mail), “I believe that equal access should also extend to print publications and digital/internet media platforms. And when media outlets have stories or segments that include leaders from political parties with candidates on the ballot those should be inclusive of all political parties with candidates. Furthermore, voter guides and candidate debates/forums should be inclusive of all candidates in a particular race because those are also forms of media that inform voters.”

• He wants ranked-choice voting for the executive branch offices (Governor, AG, Secretary of State, Auditor) and wants proportional representation for the legislature. (I am not sure if that would mean that we would no longer have legislative districts, or if we’d have larger legislative districts with proportional representation within them? it doesn’t matter, this is absolutely not going to pass. Ranked-choice voting statewide potentially could; Maine uses it for US Senate now.)

George “Chip” Tangen (Libertarian)

Not surprisingly, much like the Green, Chip the Libertarian would like to make it easier for minor-party and independent candidates to get on the ballot. I had an interesting discussion with him by e-mail about this. He has mixed feelings about extending the signature collection period (he did it very intensively for two weeks and it was exhausting)

The biggest change he’d like to push (which might actually be something the Secretary of State could do) is to switch to electronic petitions, similar to Arizona’s E-Qual system. This allows people to log in on the Secretary of State’s website and sign online, from home. (I assume this also solves the problem of illegible signatures.) He would also like to reduce the number of signatures required, and/or lengthen the period that people can collect them. (He added: “When only 3% of the 201 seats in the legislature have third-party/independent candidates, that suggests to me the current test is way too high.” I will note that in 2022, about 3% of Minnesotans voted for third-party candidates in the Governor’s race; about 5% of Minnesotans voted for third-party candidates in the State Auditor race; the third party candidates in races for US Congress got about 3-5% of the vote. So about 3% of the seats in the legislature having third party candidates contesting them, that sounds like it reflects the state pretty well, actually.)

Chip also mentioned a bill he’d worked on with a Rep. Drew Roach, HF 3534. This bill would make it much easier for minor party candidates to get on the ballot, but also requires minor parties to have an annual convention where they endorse candidates, and if you want to get on the ballot as a Libertarian you’d have had to go to the Libertarian party convention and get people to endorse you. This is an interesting backstop against the problem of, for example, straight-up Nazis getting on the ballot while claiming to be Libertarians or Greens. Given that the state Republican party endorsed Michelle MacDonald for State Supreme Court back in 2014 (they revoked their endorsement after learning about her arrest) I am less optimistic that this will keep the embarrassing candidates off the ballot, but it’s an interesting idea.

Steve Simon (DFL)

As a Minnesotan, I find it easy to take our elections for granted. They are clean and and fair, but also, convenient. We have no-excuses absentee voting, early voting in person, and we can register at the polls on election day. We have “agent delivery,” if you’re sick on election day and need your sister to bring you a ballot in person. We have “curbside voting,” if you can’t easily get out of your car. On election day, the lines are usually short and move quickly, because (unlike in many states) you don’t have to wait for a machine to vote on; we use paper ballots, which are then machine-read to speed counting; if there’s a recount, it’s done by hand, in public. We have some of the highest turnout in the country. Everyone should vote like we vote. We clearly have it down.

Steve has steered our voting system through some extremely stormy waters, including 2020, when we had to vote during a pandemic. He has also calmly refused the various illegal demands from Trump to compromise our privacy and make it harder for the citizens of Minnesota to vote. He has more than earned another term as Secretary of State; I am absolutely going to vote for him.

If you are intrigued by any of the proposals from Chip or Seth, I would encourage you to contact your legislators.

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This seems like a good year to fundraise for a trans nonprofit, so I’m fundraising this year for TIGERRS. I don’t have a Patreon, and a fundraiser lets me see in a tangible way that people value my work, which is really helpful as a motivator. (This project is a lot of work.) I raised $7,230 during primary season so I’ve raised the goal.

I also have a new book out! Obstetrix is about an obstetrician who gets kidnapped by a cult because they want someone on hand to deliver their babies; it’s a story about enduring, surviving, and not giving up. You can buy it anywhere fine books are sold, and I’ve been doing my best to keep Uncle Hugo’s, Moon Palace, and Dreamhaven Books in signed copies.