Voting will be different this year

By Curtis Wackerle of the Montana Standard - 07/19/2004

Marian Jensen

A writer and peace activist tapped by Butte Democrats to guide voters through the most significant election law changes in a generation is thrilled about the chance to raise voter awareness.

"My impetus is to get people involved in everyday democracy," Butte Help America Vote Act coordinator Marian Jensen said. "As average Americans, we have to pay more attention and that starts at the voting booth."

When Congress passed the Help America Vote Act in 2002 in the wake of the controversial 2000 presidential election, it made millions of dollars available to the states to implement the prescribed changes. The Montana Secretary of State's office uses much of the money to purchase new equipment and upgrade voting systems, but the money can also be used to hire HAVA coordinators who educate the community about the voting law changes.

The Butte-Silver Bow Central Democratic Committee applied for and received a HAVA grant for $5,000. The committee hired Jensen, a former Kentucky teacher who has lived in Butte since 1999. Jensen is a fiction writer and has three mystery

novels in the works. Her husband is a professor at Montana Tech.

Barb Jeniker of the Butte-Silver Bow Central Democratic Committee knew Jensen through Taking Action for Peaceful Solutions, a local activist group. Jeniker praised Jensen for her work on letter-writing campaigns with TAPS, calling her an

"excellent facilitator."

"She is very articulate," Jeniker said. "She has one hell of a resume."

Jensen will spend most of the $5,000 printing brochures and on compensation for the time she spends giving speeches or other related activities.

For the last few months, Jensen has been speaking to groups in Silver Bow County about the election law changes.

"I've spoken to high schools, to the Elks all the way to semi-annual polka clubs," she said.

Voters must now bring identification with them to the polls, the most significant change in Montana's election laws, Jensen said.

Nationally, HAVA mandated that only first-time voters bring their IDs. But Montana choose to extend that requirement to all voters to treat everyone equally.

In another change, provisional ballots are now available. This means that if someone comes to the polls only to find that they cannot vote — maybe they didn't bring their ID or perhaps their name was incorrectly removed from the voting rolls — they can still cast a ballot. As long as the error is corrected, the ballot counts.

Jensen's efforts appear to have paid off. Only a handful of people didn't bring identification to the polls on the June 8 primary, and of the 72 provisional ballots cast, more than 50 of them ended up counting, Butte-Silver Bow Clerk and Recorder Mary McMahon said. What is more, Butte-Silver Bow County had the highest voter turnout of any county in Montana with more than 20,000 registered voters.

Of Butte-Silver Bow's 22,000 total registered voters, 55 percent came to the polls. Not counting inactive registered voters — those who have not voted in the past two years, a high number of whom are deceased or have moved away — 72 percent voted. In comparison, Missoula and Gallatin counties had 27 percent voter turnout, Yellowstone County was at 37 percent and Lewis and Clark County's voter turnout was 45 percent.

Although HAVA's stated goal is voter education, not increased voter turnout, Jensen said the two go hand in hand.

"Attention to the voting process has raised people's attention about voting," she said.

In Montana, registered voters who go more than six years without voting will be purged from the rolls. Most people in this category have moved out of the state or died, but those who have been neglecting their civic duty will be targeted as potential voters by both political parties this November, Jensen said.

Even though the Butte Democrats secured the grant for Butte, HAVA money can't be spent to benefit one party over the other. Jensen may share her office with the Democrats, but she is required to have her own phone line. And if a Democrat staff member answers the HAVA phone, they are forbidden from plugging a Democrat candidate.

"They are paying close attention because they know the Republicans are watching," Jensen said.

Throughout the state, partisan organizations make up for only 20 percent of Montana's 94 total HAVA grants.

Party politics aside, Jensen takes great satisfaction in the voting process. She especially likes talking to young people about the importance of voting.

"The first thing I do is convince them that they matter," she said. "It doesn't matter, as much, who you vote for, just whether you vote at all."

During the primary, Jensen served as an election judge, an experience that solidified her appreciation for the democratic process. One of the judge's responsibilities is to physically place the voter's ballot in the ballot box. Most voters handed Jensen the ballot and watched very closely as she placed it in the box.

"People take their democratic right very seriously," she said. "There is nothing quite as eye opening to that as being an election judge."

Jensen is looking for volunteers to help with the HAVA voter education drive. For details, call 782-5730.