Irony alert: Election-reform bills proposed this session must pass through legislative panels led by lawmakers who’ve decided they aren’t going to run in the next election. The chairs of the House committee and Senate subcommittee overseeing proposed changes to Minnesota elections both said last month (before the March 1 precinct caucuses and the March 8 start of session) that they won’t be on the ballot for re-election in November. Rep. Tim Sanders, R-Blaine, chair of the House Government Operations and Elections Policy Committee, made his announcement in late February, and Sen. Katie Sieben, DFL-Cottage Grove, chair of the Senate Rules and Administration Subcommittee on Elections, announced in early February.
Elections are high on the minds of the American public in presidential election years. And elections, at least eventually, will be on the minds of Minnesotans, who vote for U.S. president and House of Representatives this November, along with electing legislators to all 201 seats in the state Legislature. But election years aren’t necessarily the best times to introduce legislation on topics related to elections. Indeed, Sanders said he may see fewer election-related bills in election years.
That’s likely true in a historically short session like the current one, when even urgent bills to extend unemployment benefits are delayed and bills in major areas such as transportation face iffy fates.
And election bills face a hurdle that proposals on other topics don’t, Sanders pointed out. It’s the tradition, going back at least to Gov. Jesse Ventura, for governors to insist that elections legislation they sign enjoy broad bipartisan support.
Full Article: Election-year session sees election-reform bills | Politics in Minnesota.