Speaker 1 00:00:39 So,
Speaker 2 00:01:01 And welcome, thank you for joining Disability and Progress, where we bring you insights into ideas about, and discussions on disability topics. My name is Sam, I'm the host of the show, Charlene Dolls, my research woman. Hello, Charlene. Good evening everyone. Special thanks to Miguel Vargas, who's my engineer tonight, while I am at home. And with us, we have Justin Page. Justin is the supervising attorney with the Minnesota Disability Law Center. Hi, Justin.
Speaker 3 00:01:33 Yes, I am. Hi, Charlene.
Speaker 2 00:01:35 Tonight we're gonna be talking about voting, voting, voting, voting. Everyone should vote. Um, but can we start out, Justin, by just sharing a little bit about your background and how you got, um, involved with the Disability Law Center?
Speaker 3 00:01:52 Sure. Uh, so I've been an attorney, uh, in some capacity now with the Disability Law Center for 18 years. Uh, I came to the Disability Law Center out of a clerkship, uh, with the judge in Head County. And my practice right now focuses on, I supervise our voting rights work and our outreach work. And I also have a small caseload. Uh, the voting rights work that we do. It's nonpartisan work and we, uh, talk to people. We give presentations about people's voting rights, voting, voting rights for people with disabilities, uh, and encourage people to vote. And it also, if people have problems with voting, uh, from the registration to the absentee or in person on a lesson day. Got it. They can call our office and we can help, uh, try to resolve their issue because we want as many people to vote, uh, as
Speaker 2 00:02:56 Possible. So what, how did you actually get involved with accessibility voting, accessible voting?
Speaker 3 00:03:02 Uh, well, our, our office, the Disability Law Center has a grant, uh, that works on voting. Uh, our office is the protection and advocacy for people with disabilities in the state of Minnesota. Every state has a protection advocacy in their state, and they all have voting rights to do voting rights work. So that's how I became involved.
Speaker 2 00:03:28 Ah, so, um, are all voting places accessible to people with disability issues?
Speaker 3 00:03:39 Uh, they should be. Uh, but sometimes we find they're not always fully, uh, accessible from, you know, the number of parking spaces. Uh, they have bathrooms. Sometimes the bathrooms aren't accessible, Uh, and sometimes, and there's, there's a accessible balloting machine. All polling places are supposed to have accessible balloting machine. Uh, and if you've been voting in Minnesota for a while, it's been known as the AutoMark, but now a number of counties are moving away from the AutoMark and, uh, different systems.
Speaker 2 00:04:22 How does, uh, how does a place get to be a certified voting place? What, what's required of that?
Speaker 3 00:04:29 I think a place, uh, I think the city or the local jurisdictions, uh, pick the polling places, uh, that will be used, uh, in their often schools, churches, community centers, uh, some place in the community.
Speaker 2 00:04:50 So as a person with a disability, what might I expect when I go to my voting place?
Speaker 3 00:04:59 Uh, hopefully you can, uh, hopefully you can expect, uh, devoted places to be accessible. Uh, you can expect to, uh, you know, there'll be staff there, uh, who will greet you and get you, make sure you're registered and get you all checked in, uh, hand you the ballot. Then you'll be able to vote, uh, in private, using the accessible ballot machine or not. Uh, it's your choice.
Speaker 2 00:05:32 Can I vote early?
Speaker 3 00:05:34 Absolutely. You can vote early. Uh, starting, well, it started, uh, at the end of September. Uh, but you can vote, uh, a absentee, uh, in person or via the mail, uh, now through the election, the ballot, you need to make sure your ballot is in by a election day in order for it to count.
Speaker 2 00:06:02 So, um, if I vote early, are there only specific places that I can do that at? Or will every polling place be open early for you to vote at?
Speaker 3 00:06:13 No, if you're gonna vote, uh, in person, uh, if you're gonna vote absentee in person, not every polling place is open. It's generally, uh, and you'll probably need to check with the, your local city, uh, or the Secretary States office, uh, and admin votes.org, uh, to see where those early polling places are located.
Speaker 2 00:06:42 Like I know my city hall is a place that has an accessible voting machine, then they're open, but only during business hours. Yep. So that people have to understand, it's not like you can always just go and vote from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM Right. That's the general close. That's,
Speaker 3 00:07:00 That's only on November 8th, uh, which is a election day. This year. Polling places will be open from seven, uh, am to 8:00 PM and as long as you're in line by 8:00 PM you'll be able to vote.
Speaker 2 00:07:14 So what you're saying too, is if you're gonna vote early, check with your city to see where the polling places are.
Speaker 3 00:07:21 Correct. And now I would also encourage, even on election day, because sometimes polling place places change, Uh, I think it's always a good idea, uh, just to go on the Secretary State's website, website and check your pulling place, uh, and to confirm your pulling place. Cause you don't wanna go to someplace that used to be your polling place rights, your pulling place.
Speaker 2 00:07:47 So is, does Minnesota have online voting?
Speaker 3 00:07:52 No.
Speaker 2 00:07:53 Ah, and is there any particular reason why?
Speaker 3 00:07:58 Uh, you would have to, as a Secretary States
Speaker 2 00:08:01 <laugh>
Speaker 3 00:08:02 Office and the Minnesota legislature, but I think Minnesota prefers, uh, a paper ballot. Uh, and there are, there are paper ballots. Uh, so you know that you give people confidence, uh, when they cast their vote. Uh, if there is an issue, uh, after the election, uh, and there's a recon or something, you can actually, you'll ha have the paper ballots, uh, to physically, uh, to be able to do that.
Speaker 2 00:08:35 So I have a question about the voting machines, because I have used them many times. And if the voting machine malfunctions, what happens
Speaker 3 00:08:48 If the voting machine malfunctions? Uh, well, the first thing to do would be to, uh, check in with the head election official there. Uh, because the voting machines, when they get to the polling place early in the morning, they should be all set up. And if there are any issues, uh, the election judges should deal with them, uh, early, uh, in the morning before voting starts. Uh, but sometimes if a problem arises during the day and you get there and the accessible, uh, voting machine doesn't work, I would talk to the election judge.
Speaker 2 00:09:34 Right. So what happened to me, at least I'll say, is that, um, living where I am, there's apparently not a lot of people who use the accessible voting machine, except I do. Um, and they hadn't, I, I'm guessing they hadn't fully tested it, uh, because I went to vote, it let me select everything, but it would not let me print out my ballot. So that was a problem,
Speaker 3 00:09:58 <laugh>. Right. I'm, and I'm sorry, you heard or you had that situation? Uh, because we try to impress upon Western officials, uh, that the, or the ballot and market machine, uh, needs to be working, uh, otherwise kind of what's the point, uh, of having it. Uh, so it needs to be working. Uh, and so people with disabilities can vote independently and privately.
Speaker 2 00:10:26 Right. So, yeah, then I had to do it not privately, and that wasn't, <laugh> wasn't what I had in mind. That's,
Speaker 3 00:10:35 That, that's, uh, uh, it, it, you could call the disability law center. Uh, and we might not be able to resolve the issue right there, but we can later follow up, uh, with the election officials. Uh, and there's a possibility of filing a, uh, voting rights or a, a voting complaint under the Help America Vote Act with the Secretary State's office.
Speaker 2 00:11:04 Gotcha. So, short of the election, judge, if I have a problem, let's say, I don't know what it would be, um, during the voting process, is there anybody else I could appeal to during that time? If he isn't Dave, or he or she is not able to work it out,
Speaker 3 00:11:25 Uh, you can call our office, uh, and one of, or hopefully, um, we can help resolve, uh, the issue.
Speaker 2 00:11:38 Would you guys, are you guys keeping, um, voting hours on the election day? Or what's your hours that people can call?
Speaker 3 00:11:47 Uh, yeah. On election day are we have an alleged hotline. Uh, but it's, and I'll be staffing that all all day. Uh, we don't get a lot of, uh, people calling in. Uh, but if they do, they can call our office. Uh, and we have it set up so they will be patched through directly. Those calls will be routed, uh, directly to me.
Speaker 2 00:12:22 Um, so I know sometimes people move around and things like that. So what happens if they've moved and they wanna vote now, where they currently live, if they've moved in the last month or so, is there, uh, a process they have to go through?
Speaker 3 00:12:42 Well, if you have moved, you have to reregister, uh, to vote every time you move. And you can register, uh, online in the mail, uh, or in person on day of the election. If for some reason you don't have, uh, you know, say you move November 1st, the election is November 5th, and you don't have all the documents, uh, necessary to show that you live at your new address. You can have someone in the precinct who knows you, uh, vouch for you.
Speaker 2 00:13:22 So what are the documents that you would one would need if they have to reregister?
Speaker 3 00:13:27 Uh, well, you don't need a, a photo ID to vote. Uh, but if we, you can register with a photo id. If you don't have photo id, uh, you can bring an expired, uh, ID along with a, a bill, uh, that you get.
Speaker 2 00:13:47 Ah, wow. Really? They let you bring an expired id? Huh?
Speaker 3 00:13:51 An expired bill with a, with a expired ID with a bill that shows
Speaker 2 00:13:55 With a bill that shows your name. Okay. All right. Gotcha.
Speaker 3 00:13:59 And if you don't have any of those, you can go through the budget process, which I just explained.
Speaker 2 00:14:04 Yeah. Um, so what have you seen as far as tendencies now, you know, in Covid? Like a lot of people I think voted via mail, um, mailed their stuff in. What have you seen now since it's kind of moved a little past, even though it's covid still out there, but people are feeling more free about moving about now?
Speaker 3 00:14:31 Yeah. Well, well, I mean, we'll see. Uh, this will be kind of the first, uh, big election that we've had, uh, since I talked to you last.
Speaker 2 00:14:42 Ah, yes.
Speaker 3 00:14:44 Uh, that's where Covid was a big deal then, even though it's still, I mean, it's still a big deal and people should take it seriously. Uh, but I agree, people are more, uh, things are opening up more. So I expect, uh, more people probably than in 2020 will vote, uh, going to vote on election day. Uh, even though there'll be a lot of people who vote, uh, Absolut absentee as well.
Speaker 2 00:15:12 Can you explain to those who aren't sure what the rules of voting absentee I are? Is there specific rules that you to follow if you wanna vote absentee?
Speaker 3 00:15:23 Well, if you wanna vote absentee, you need to contact the Secretary States, Uh, or you need to request an absentee ballot. You can do
[email protected]. Uh, and you request the ballot, uh, the ballot will be, uh, mailed to you. Uh, you can fill it out. Uh, you may recall in 2020, there was a, or prior to 2020, there was a requirement that you have a witness sign or valid. Uh, and that was excused, uh, during Covid in 2020. That was a one time, uh, thing. So there will be, there's a requirement this year that you need to have a witness sign your, uh, absentee ballot.
Speaker 2 00:16:16 And you, when you say a witness, do you mean an it has to be notarized?
Speaker 3 00:16:20 Well, there has to be a witness. So someone who lives in Minnesota, uh, or it can be a notary. Okay. So it doesn't have to be a notary.
Speaker 2 00:16:31 So Justin, if Charlene or I have some kind of fantastic idea for making the voting process better, um, for accessible voting, who would we go to?
Speaker 3 00:16:44 Uh, well, you would probably go to, uh, well, you can go to a number of places. Uh, you can go to, uh, your city election official. Uh, you can go to your legislator, uh, because they're the ones who create the laws, uh, regarding, uh, voting. You can go to the Secretary of State's office, uh, and make your voice heard. Uh, you can also call our office. Uh, we can try to assist you, uh, in making the, your voting experience more accessible.
Speaker 2 00:17:24 Just curious about, if you're talking about an absentee ballot, that's the same as voting through the mail, right? You can you just send the absentee ballot in, or are there drop off places that you can do that if you want?
Speaker 3 00:17:40 Right. Well, you can vote absentee, uh, a number of ways. You can vote absentee, uh, through the mail. Uh, you can vote absentee, uh, in person by going early to your, uh, city election, uh, headquarters, uh, or pull in place, uh, and vote there. Uh, so there are, there are a few ways, uh, to vote. And yes, there are, there were drop boxes in 2020, I believe. And you'll wanna check with your city on this or your, your county or your local government, uh, to see if there are those drop boxes. I know there were in 2020, uh, I assume, uh, there will be this year. Uh,
Speaker 2 00:18:33 And one can find out by checking with her. Do the cities have different rules of about drop boxes?
Speaker 3 00:18:42 Uh, I don't know. They have different rules. I mean, some of 'em just have them in, some of them, I'm not sure that all cities, uh, across the state have them. Uh, probably the more areas, uh, have them, but other, other cities or counties may have them as well.
Speaker 2 00:19:05 So, um, when we had the last presidential voting, it was, it got pretty crazy. Have you noticed, uh, drop in volunteers have, are people nervous about, you know, being in volunteers in their voting places now?
Speaker 3 00:19:26 Uh, I haven't heard that specifically related to Minnesota and, and pulling place workers. I do understand across the country, uh, that that is a concern because people, regular citizens just wanna, you know, do their civic duty, uh, and make sure the process is, is fair, uh, and accessible to everyone. And then there often, uh, and I was saying this is just in other state's, uh, threat, uh, and just for people doing their job, uh, which is unfortunate, but I haven't seen that, uh, in Minnesota. Uh, and hopefully we won't. Right. I guess there's an alleged we haven't, there was a primary election back in August, and I, I didn't hear anything regarding that happening during the primary season.
Speaker 2 00:20:26 So what does Minnesota do to keep their, their voting and ballots safe and secure?
Speaker 3 00:20:34 Well, the, the, so for folks who have questions about, and you hear a lot of folks have questions about their absentee, um, ballot, there is a way to track, uh, the absentee ballot online. Uh, so you can have confidence that it, your absentee ballot did get to, uh, the election office, uh, and was counted. And for some reason, if it's kind of last minute and you see, Oh no, my ballot didn't get counted, uh, then you can go ask for a new ballot, uh, and go vote in person. Uh, but we haven't. So you need to make sure you get your ballot in by the, uh, election day on November 8th.
Speaker 2 00:21:30 Yeah, I would, I would do it as early as
Speaker 3 00:21:33 Possible. Yeah. I would do it if, as early as possible. I agree. Cause if you recall in 2020 there were issues with the mail. Uh,
Speaker 2 00:21:43 Anything about that?
Speaker 3 00:21:44 There was a lot of concern that if you mailed a ballot in, even with two weeks, I wanna get there. I haven't heard as much concern about that, uh, this year, but I wouldn't wait until the last, if you're gonna vote, uh, absentee, uh, via mail, I wouldn't wait till the last minute just because you wanna make sure that ballot gets in, uh, is counted.
Speaker 2 00:22:08 So as somebody who often goes to my poll, how do I know my ballot is safe and is being counted?
Speaker 3 00:22:17 Uh, well on the, you know, when you put your ballot in the ballot little
Speaker 2 00:22:25 Slot, Yeah,
Speaker 3 00:22:27 It will, you'll get it. There's a number, there's a number tally on that. And you can see is, I've done this a number of times, <laugh>, you can see it will increase by one. Uh, so your bowel will go in, uh, and it will, if it's accepted, if it's rejected, it should reject your ballot right away.
Speaker 2 00:22:49 Ah, okay. So what kind of things would make somebody not be able to vote,
Speaker 3 00:22:57 Not be able to vote, uh, not a citizen under the age of 18? Uh, if they're serving a felony sentence, uh, you can't vote if you haven't been a Minnesota resident for 19 days, or, or if you haven't been a Minnesota resident for over 20 days, I should say. Uh, you can't vote in Minnesota. And there's also a provision that there's a lot of confusion about the guardianship
Speaker 2 00:23:28 Issue. Yes.
Speaker 3 00:23:29 People under guardianship, uh, are able to vote as long as the guardianship order, uh, of that individual is silent on, is silent on a person's voting rights. So
Speaker 2 00:23:46 I
Speaker 3 00:23:47 See. Say another way, uh, if the guardianship order doesn't say anything about voting, you can vote. If the guardianship order does say something about voting, uh, you need to look at the guardianship order. Uh, and you can only, and you can't vote if it says your right to vote is revoked.
Speaker 2 00:24:05 Oh, wow. So if somebody is a felon and they've served their time and they're out in the community, can they vote in Minnesota?
Speaker 3 00:24:15 Uh, well that depends. Are they still serving part of their felony sentence? Uh, if so, they can't vote. Uh, but if they're what's called off paper, they're done, their whole sentence is completed, uh, they are able to vote. Okay. So that can be confusing. Uh, so it's really important if you are serving a, uh, felony sentence that you look, uh, to determine whether your your sentence is completed or not. I mean, if you're just out on probation,
Speaker 2 00:24:51 You're
Speaker 3 00:24:51 Still serving part of your sentence, then you can't vote.
Speaker 2 00:24:55 Gotcha. So if I have more questions on this voting stuff, where do I go?
Speaker 3 00:25:01 You can call, uh, the Minnesota Disability Law Center. Uh, if you, or I should say, you can call or you can go online to min votes.org. That's Secretary State's, uh, website and the Secretary State. The website has plenty of information on voting that answers a lot of these questions. Uh, if you, uh, have further questions, uh, about accessibility, you can always contact our office at the Minnesota Disability Law Center.
Speaker 2 00:25:37 Charlene, did you have any questions now that I used all your questions? <laugh>, Charlene helped me with these, um, earlier as I was in surgery. So
Speaker 4 00:25:47 Can we get the phone number just Yes, people have it?
Speaker 3 00:25:52 Uh, sure. Uh, let me, it's the phone number for my office is 1-800-292-FOUR 1 5 0.
Speaker 2 00:26:04 So 1-800-292-FOUR 1 5 0 1.
Speaker 3 00:26:09 802 9 2 4 1 5. Yes.
Speaker 2 00:26:12 Excellent. So,
Speaker 3 00:26:13 Secretary State again is min votes org.
Speaker 2 00:26:19 So is there anything more you'd like to leave us with?
Speaker 3 00:26:23 Uh, I would just encourage, uh, everyone to exercise their right, civic right and duty, uh, to vote on, uh, in this year's election, which is November 8th.
Speaker 2 00:26:42 All right, Justin, thank you. We always appreciate you coming on and sharing your knowledge, so thank you very much.
Speaker 3 00:26:49 All right. Well, thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 00:26:53 Good night. Good
Speaker 3 00:26:54 Night. Bye.
Speaker 2 00:26:55 Disability and Progress wants to remind you that we are podcasted. So you may ask your smartphone or smart device to play the latest podcast. And, um, that will, or you can go online at disability, or sorry, K F A i.org/disability and Progress. You can find our latest episodes there and hopefully, uh, are the podcasts there? They might be closely linked there. So we also have an emailing list if you'd like to be on our email list, you can email us at disability and progress sam jasmine.com and we'll gladly add you to what's going to be coming up. But coming up this next half hour is a, uh, from Disability rap. It's celebrating Disability Pride. This is K FFI 90.3 fm, minneapolis and k.org. My name is Sam Charlene Dolls, my research assistant. Uh, thank you, Miguel, for your engineering Excellence
Speaker 4 00:28:43 APIs.
