MINOT -- There is a furious national debate about the SAVE Act -- federal legislation backed by Republicans aimed at creating tough new national standards for election security -- and North Dakota occupies a unique role in it. Our state is the only state without voter registration. The SAVE Act, as it is presently amended, contains exemptions to maintain that status, and Secretary of State Michael Howe says that's appropriate because current North Dakota laws already make our elections very secure.
"I like to tell people North Dakota's been dealing with election integrity well before it was cool," he said on this episode of Plain Talk.
He pointed out that North Dakota already verifies the citizenship of voters. "If you're getting a North Dakota ID for the very first time, you have to prove your citizenship. We have that in our central voter file. If you're here legally but not a US citizen, it will say on your physical ID card, permanent or temporary."
He also said that the state goes through great pains to ensure voter rolls do not contain the names of ineligible voters. "In North Dakota, we clean our voter rolls every single night."
"We get information from the Department of Transportation that's involved in an interstate cross-check program. So, if you move from North Dakota to the state of Tennessee and get a Tennessee identification card, (the) state of Tennessee notifies our DOT who notifies the North Dakota Secretary of State's Office and we can do that overnight," he continued. "The DOCR (Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation), if someone's incarcerated, they notify the Secretary of State's Office this person's incarcerated; they're not a qualified elector anymore. Someone passes away; we get an update from Vital Records every single night that so-and-so has passed away in some place North Dakota and they're removed from our central voter file."
Howe is up for reelection this year, and he, like the other statewide Republican incumbents, has opted not to attend the North Dakota Republican Party's endorsing convention. "I attended as many district conventions as I could in all four corners of the state. In talking with folks, they just said, 'Hey, look, Michael, we support you 100%. We'll knock doors. We'll contribute, but we just don't want to go to Minot,'" he said, referring to the location for the convention.
"I fully understand and respect why Republicans in North Dakota have been turned off by this process," he continued. "It makes me sad. I hope it comes back to what it was."
Also on this episode, guest co-host Jessica Bell and I discussed the debate between endorsing conventions and open primaries, the proper role of public servants and we responded to a letter to the editor from Rep. Desiree Morton critical of my reporting on the state of the NDGOP.
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