Matthew Seckora/Winonan
Abby Peschges/Winonan
The Constitution is a vital document that responds to the needs of democracy, Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie said at Winona State University for Constitution Day last Monday.
Constitution Day is celebrated on Sept. 17, the day that the Constitution was signed by the authors. This year marks the 225th anniversary of the signing.
Ritchie, sporting his Constitution tie, gave a speech on the history of the Constitution, and why it is important to understand how it works.
The Secretary of State’s office is in charge of informing people of the core principles that make up the United States’ democracy.
Ritchie said, “Guaranteeing people’s rights was fundamental to many of the revolutionary ideals [in the Constitution]. Those principles we sometimes summarize as freedom and justice for all.”
The constitution was written because there were conflicts amongst the individual states, and citizens were “unhappy with the lack of stable government,” Ritchie said.
Ritchie acknowledged that the Constitution has limitations.
“It’s not that it was or is perfect today,” he said. “The writers knew, so they built in mechanisms to change it.”
The Constitution can be used for creating policy or stating policy, and legislators sometimes disagree on this point. Ritchie said that this is one reason why it is important that everyone votes. “Voting is an opportunity, and on Nov. 6 you get the right to vote, but every day you get the responsibilities that comes along with it,” Ritchie said.
Minnesota has the highest voting rate in the country at 78 percent. Winona State is nationally recognized for the promotion of voting. “Usually when people stop to think about the people who fought to keep the right to vote, they are more likely to go vote,” Ritchie said.
Winona State is part of 250 colleges and universities around the nation that are part of the American Democracy Project, which prepares students to be active citizens.
As representatives for the Democracy Project, Winona State students Laura Lake, Alexandra Griffin, Courtney Julek and Winona State aluma Lynn Theurer took part in a panel discussion Sept. 17 in the evening as part of the Constitution Day celebration. All four women attended the National Civic Summit last year, a student-moderated convention aimed at discussing important issues related to democracy.
“I learned how hard it is to train yourself to really listen to what people are saying,” Griffin said. 2012 was the first year the summit was student-moderated.
“Other students were blown away that we were so student- led and student-driven,” Julek said.
Winona State students produced a film of last year’s summit that was shown at the beginning of the panel discussion and will be used as a teaching tool for other universities.
“As students we’re a part of higher education, but hearing what administrators and community members had to say was really eye-opening,” Lake said.
The panel emphasized that Sept. 25 is National Voter Registration Day. Students will be able to register or receive information on how to register from noon to 4 p.m. in the lower hyphen now until the 25th. Information can also be found on the Minnesota Secretary of State’s website or at voter411. org.
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