Pop-up voting a hit on U-M campus, a flop in nearby Cedar-Riverside

The massive changes in election laws enacted by Minnesota Democrats over the past two years inspired us at the Center to undertake a four-stop “election integrity tour” last month.

We highlighted automatic voter registration, felon voting, automatic absentee voting, and many other changes designed to make voting easier for some populations while introducing new vulnerabilities into the system.

You can watch Bill Walsh’s 30-minute video presentation here.

One new item we didn’t cover was the legalization of one-day, “pop-up” voting stations conducted by cities at non-traditional voting locations.

Think of this as a “Spirit Halloween” store, except for voting, and moving to a different storefront location every day.

The City of Minneapolis has been most aggressive in using this new tool, setting up 11 one-day voting sites around town. The first one was held on the main campus of the University of Minnesota on October 22. Other sites included a homeless shelter, an art museum, theaters, rec centers, and a church.

The locations were strategically selected in alleged “low-turnout areas” of the city. The U-M site was a big hit, with a reported record 637 votes cast during the site’s seven hours of operation.

As the first of the 11 sites, the U-M location drew media attention, with local outlets MPR, Star Tribune, and WCCO running stories. The UK Guardian also ran a piece.

Flying under the radar was the Halloween site held at the Cedar Cultural Center in the heart of the Cedar Riverside neighborhood. This Oct. 31 location was across the river and less than a mile away from the U-M site the previous week. Our correspondent was on the scene:

The above photo, taken mid-afternoon, shows little activity. Perhaps the Halloween snow played a role. More likely is the propensity of the local demographic to vote via mail.

We have previously documented how, in recent elections, this neighborhood leads the city, year after year, in voting by mail, with the local share of mail voting exceeding 82 percent.

If you haven’t already, get out and vote!