Author

Max Hailperin

Max Hailperin

Max Hailperin is a professor emeritus of mathematics, computer science, and statistics at Gustavus Adolphus College. He earned his Ph.D. at Stanford University and S.B. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since 2010, he has specialized in the intersection between election technology and election policy, and in 2014, he was awarded the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) Medallion Award “in recognition of his service and contributions to election-related technology and legislation.”

The 2023 Legislature did a lot on election laws. Here’s a (nearly) comprehensive look.

By: - May 24, 2023

The Minnesota Legislature passed three bills that affect election administration, and Gov. Tim Walz signed them all. I’ll try to focus on major changes to elections policy.  Broadly speaking, the bills expand the franchise, remove obstacles to voting, increase transparency, and reinforce the state’s rejection of any interference with the voting process. The lies surrounding […]

COMMENTARY

What ChatGPT can teach us about election misinformation

By: - January 31, 2023

I don’t want to suggest you’ve been living under a rock, but it’s my responsibility to start this article with some basic facts. There’s software on the loose called ChatGPT that can carry on remarkably lifelike dialogues including issuing authoritative-sounding pronouncements on just about any topic. Some of those pronouncements are even correct. A new […]

COMMENTARY

Your questions about the Minnesota election system, answered

By: - October 28, 2022

Editor’s note: Since April we’ve been running a series of articles by Max Hailperin explaining how the Minnesota election system works. Now we’re answering your (and our) questions about election administration. Read the first set of questions here.  We shouldn’t entirely trust the results on election night. Those are unofficial results, or as I prefer to […]

COMMENTARY
Early Voting signs on a building in downtown Minnesota

Your questions about the Minnesota election system, answered, part 1

By: - October 27, 2022

Editor’s note: Since April we’ve been running a series of articles by Max Hailperin explaining how the Minnesota election system works. Today and tomorrow, we’re answering your (and our) questions about election administration.  Welcome to voting! It sounds like there’s a good chance you aren’t registered. That’s fine because you can register at the time […]

COMMENTARY

Minnesota election administration explained: Recounts and election contests

By: - September 8, 2022

This is part of an occasional series on election administration. Read part 1, “Who does what?” Part 2, “Who can vote in Minnesota?” Part 3: “How and why polling places are computerized.” Part 4: “How absentee voting works.”  Part 5: “Reconciliation.” Part 6: “Post-election checks.”  Elections don’t just identify winners. They also persuade losers that they have lost. A recent high-profile loser […]

Minnesota election administration explained: post-election checks

By: - August 24, 2022

This is part of an occasional series on election administration. Read part 1, “Who does what?” Part 2, “Who can vote in Minnesota?” Part 3: “How and why polling places are computerized.” Part 4: “How absentee voting works.”  Part 5: “Reconciliation.” Election officials do their best to get results out on election night or the next morning, but always with […]

Voting sign in 4 languages

Election administration explained: Reconciliation

By: - July 27, 2022

This is part of an occasional series on election administration. Read part 1, “Who does what?” Part 2, “Who can vote in Minnesota?” Part 3: “How and why polling places are computerized.” Part 4: “How absentee voting works.”  Election workers count. Not just in the figurative sense of mattering, but in the literal sense of one, two, three. […]

Election administration explained: How absentee voting works

By: - July 11, 2022

This is part of an occasional series on election administration. Read part 1, “Who does what?” Part 2, “Who can vote in Minnesota?” And Part 3: “How and why polling places are computerized.”  Every Minnesota voter has the option to vote absentee, whether they do it by mail or in person at their local elections […]

Election administration explained: How and why polling places are computerized

By: - June 14, 2022

This is part of an occasional series on election administration. Read part 1, “Who does what?”  And part 2, “Who can vote in Minnesota?”  Architects consider the people who will use a space, the structural elements that will give that space stability, and the surfaces that people will see and interact with, down to the […]

COMMENTARY

Elections explained: Who can vote in Minnesota?

By: - May 12, 2022

This is part of an occasional series on election administration. Who can vote in Minnesota? That’s a simple question with three not-so-simple answers: a constitutional answer, a legal answer, and a realistic answer. The constitution defines who is eligible. The law specifies the procedures voters must follow to demonstrate their eligibility. And the reality is […]

Elections explained: Who does what?

By: - April 18, 2022

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of columns between now and Election Day by Max Hailperin, who will guide Reformer readers through the mechanics of election administration.  You turn a tap and clean water pours out. You cast a ballot and election results get announced. And just as you don’t need to […]

COMMENTARY

Minnesota’s tradition of one-stop voting must be protected | Opinion

By: - November 15, 2021

Let’s talk about one-stop voting — the idea that anyone meeting the fundamental eligibility criteria for voting can do so with only a single interaction with the government. Minnesota’s tradition of one-stop voting predates the state’s founding: The 1851 territorial legislature provided that all who swore to their eligibility and were not proven ineligible could […]