Voters in the Anoka Hennepin School Board election need to make sure they approach the correct table at the Mision Christiana Bethel polling place (ISD 11 SB6 P2). That’s because students from nearby Coon Rapids High School will be allowed into the polling place to conduct a mock student election on election day.
According to a memo from Anoka County elections staff to poll judges, the students are authorized by Secretary of State Steve Simon to set up a table and administer a mock election for students. From the memo:
Process: Two students will staff a table for high school students from Coon Rapids High to fill out mock ballots. Their ballots (they will bring) will be sample ballots for the precinct printed on colored paper. The volunteers will also bring their own pens, dividers (tabletop voting booth dividers), and ballot box.
Needs: Table, 2 chairs, space out of the way of election and polling place lines. Other than directing student volunteers where to set up, and Greeter Judge directing students looking for the mock election, they do not anticipate needing any time or resources from polling place staff/Election Judges.
What could go wrong!
This activity is legal, based on a little-used law passed in 1991 that also allowed high school students to serve as election judge trainees.
Normally no one is allowed inside a polling place except for official election judges, poll challengers and voters. In fact, the law is very clear on who should be in the polling place on election day:
“No one except an election official or an individual who is waiting to register or to vote or an individual who is conducting exit polling shall stand within 100 feet of the building in which a polling place is located.”
The addition of a student table with different colored ballots and students coming and going throughout the day will certainly add confusion to the voting process. Students arriving for the mock election could end up in the wrong line and attempt to cast a ballot in the real election. More likely, voters could end up voting at the student table by mistake and assume their vote will be counted.
Secretary Simon’s recent effort to register 16 and 17-year-olds makes this whole mock election (in the polling place) even more unsettling.
Voting is not a difficult activity that requires “training” for soon-to-be 18-year-olds. If you can’t figure out how to stand in line, state your name and fill in a bubble for your candidate, perhaps you shouldn’t be voting. Any mock elections can be held at the high school to avoid confusion, misplaced ballots and election fraud.
Steve Simon preaches about the integrity of Minnesota elections, but activities like high school mock elections and withholding voter data from the U.S. Department of Justice Department do not build trust with voters.
