With the New Hampshire primary and the Iowa caucuses finally counted, the 2020 presidential primary season is in full swing. The Democratic front-runners look to be Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Following closely behind is our state’s own Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden trail farther behind.
Donald Trump, with no major Republican opposition, is all but assured to be the GOP nominee. Minnesota is set to make its choice in these races on March 3, when we hold our presidential primary.
This is different than the previous years where we have had caucuses. However, the way the primary will be run this year is dangerous for voter privacy.
First off, many people may wonder, what is the difference between a primary and a caucus? The easy explanation is in a caucus, those wishing to express their preference for a candidate must go to the event, sit in a room and then have their vote counted after some debate.
A primary is essentially like a regular election. Voters go into a polling place, cast their ballot and then go home. After the 2016 Minnesota caucuses experienced high turnout, resulting in confusion and delays, Minnesota decided to switch over to a primary for 2020.
While this sounds like a more efficient improvement, there is a crucial issue with how the primary will be conducted. Unlike a regular election, where once you sign the electoral register the election judge hands you a ballot, instead you will have to ask for the ballot of the political party you want to vote for.
Exchanging this information in public is highly concerning for the privacy of a voter.
Even more concerning, once the primary is over and all of the ballots for each party are distributed, a list of the names of each person requesting the ballot of that particular political party will be sent to that respective party chair. This information then would have no limitation for what it could be used for and who it could be shared with.
This is an alarming prospect. Not everyone wants others to know which party they support. This is especially bad for people who desire to maintain an image of impartiality, like judges, educators and journalists. For someone who doesn’t want this information out in public, they might just even refuse to participate in the primary all together.
Voters should not have to choose between participating in our democracy and choosing to protect the privacy of their voting affiliation.
The whole point of having a secret ballot in elections is that people can make the choice they want without fear of repercussions from their family, friends and co-workers.
This primary process takes away that protection, essentially setting the stage for Minnesota to become a party registration state if the collected information leaks out. This would be a terrible outcome. Being able to look up the party affiliation of people would only make our politics more polarized in an already divided time.
I appreciate the efforts being made at the time of writing by Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon and some state legislators to change the primary structure to allow for voters to request their information be kept private. The state legislature and Gov. Walz should move to pass these reforms quickly so they are ready in time for March 3.
Democracy and voting are supposed to be about allowing Minnesotans the ability to make choices about who is on their ballot without fear of their choices being exposed.
In the spirit of maintaining the spirit of free and fair elections, the Minnesota primary process should be immediately changed to stop the collection and sharing of voter data.
If left unchanged, it could deal a critical blow to Minnesota voters’ participation in our elections.
