By Lori Ehde
Absentee voters who selected Paul Wellstone in the Minnesota senate race will need to amend their votes or go uncounted in the 2002 general election.
Many absentee ballots had already been filled out and returned by the time Sen. Paul Wellstone died in Friday’s plane crash.
What to do with those ballots prompted a flurry of legal discussion in the Secretary of State and Attorney General offices, and already the DFL party has filed a lawsuit claiming the process is unfair.
Wednesday night, the DFL Central Committee was set to select Walter Mondale to appear on the ballot in Wellstone's place. Once that was done, new supplemental absentee ballots could be printed reflecting new choices.
Absentee voters who chose any of Wellstone's opponents aren't affected. Their ballots will be counted as if nothing had happened.
Absentee voters who haven't yet filled out their ballots can simply write in Mondale's name on the ticket where that option allows, and their ballots will also be treated as usual.
It gets trickier for absentee voters, many of whom are snowbirds and college students, who selected the late Paul Wellstone. Votes for him will not be counted; all other selections in the senate race will be counted as usual.
So, for absentee DFL voters who now want to support Mondale, the law states they must "obtain an official supplemental absentee ballot in person, or through personal delivery."
This rather vague verbiage in state law, according to Rock County Auditor Treasurer Margaret Cook, is raising more questions than it answers.
"Some could say 'The mailman personally delivers my mail.' It's all how you interpret the law," Cook said.
"These laws all look good on paper, until they're put to the test. Who's going to define personal delivery? These are the kinds of things we’re up against."
She said her office had to wait until Wednesday night to know which name to print on the supplemental ballots, and those wouldn't be ready until sometime today.
That doesn't leave enough time for absentee voters to request new supplemental ballots by mail. What this means is most snowbirds and college students who voted absentee for Wellstone will have no options for changing their votes
"I expect a lot of issues on this, and it's not going to be over on election day," Cook said. "I can see both sides of it, but then again, life isn't always fair."
She suggests local voters who are still planning to vote absentee should wait at least until Saturday, if they can, to come and do so. "Hopefully by then, we'll have all the questions answered."
As of Tuesday, she had responded to 181 requests for absentee, and 112 had been returned.
If an absentee voter goes to the polls to vote, their absentee ballot will be pulled and will not be counted.
Absentee voters who come to the auditor's office in person to amend their vote, will receive a supplemental ballot to participate in the U.S. Senate race only.
Minnesota law says a voter cannot vote twice, so with this process the voter will be "amending his ballot," Cook said.
She said the ballots set aside will never be opened, unless the information is subpoenaed in litigation.
Meanwhile at the polls…
Since Tuesday's ballots have already been printed, election judges will have to somehow strike the senate candidate section from each ballot before handing it to voters along with a supplemental sheet containing the new candidate information.
Voters will not make choices in the senate race on the original ballot, but will do so on the supplemental ballot.
The original ballots are counted by machine, but in the senate race, those supplemental ballots will have to be hand-counted.
Cook said she's trained nearly 130 election judges for all of Rock County's precincts, but she said emergency training can be conducted at the last minute if needed.
The phone number for the Rock County Auditor-Treasurer's Office is 283-5060.
Minnesota mourns loss
Local DFL Chairman Ben Vander Kooi said rural Minnesota residents lost an effective voice in Washington when Wellstone died Friday.
"We really got to know him during the farm crisis of the mid-1980's," said Vander Kooi, who worked on Wellstone's former campaigns. "He rallied to get farmers together to act with one voice."
Vander Kooi and many others remember when Wellstone spoke to middle school and high school students in Luverne in 1996.
"That's a tough audience, and he kept them spellbound," Vander Kooi recalled.
He said in addition to his efforts for Minnesota farmers, Wellstone will be remembered for his contributions to rural telecommunications, veterans and to improving mental health benefits.
Vander Kooi said he thought Walter Mondale will be a good replacement for Wellstone on the ballot, despite his age. "He's 74, but Strom Thurmond is 100," he said. "He's from southern Minnesota and fits the area very well. He very much understands this part of the Minnesota."