ST. PAUL — In a race without an incumbent, the election for secretary of state has largely faded into the background of Minnesota politics.

It’s getting less attention than the high-profile races for governor and the U.S. Senate because it’s the only general election ballot this year without an incumbent, reports said. Republican Dan Severson is making his second attempt in running for secretary of state against State Rep. Steve Simon, a Democrat from Hopkins.

The major party candidates have drastically different opinions about voting in Minnesota. Severson wants to prevent voter fraud through identification, while Simon wants to make the process easier by creating a full-blown early voting system, like the ones in 33 other states.

Instead of heavily weighing his campaign toward requiring voters to show photo ID, like he did in the past, Severson is now supporting the idea of a voluntary photo ID system. The idea would allow voters who show ID to enter a faster line at the polling place.

Although experts claim voter fraud isn’t a problem, Severson still thinks a lack of identification can wreak havoc on Election Day.

“If somebody votes who’s not supposed to, whether they’re from Wisconsin or they’re a felon or someone else who isn’t eligible to vote, it marginalizes the vote of those who vote legitimately,” he said.

Severson has also proposed an online, absentee voting option for deployed soldiers in an effort to increase the number of active duty military personnel voting in state elections.

But Severson’s accusations are false, according to Simon, who was the chief sponsor of the new no-excuses absentee voting law. It carries no exclusions, Simon said, because the changes apply to every eligible voter.

“I carried that legislation for seven years. That was my personal passion, my personal project,” he said. “And now we have it, so that all of us in Minnesota can vote from home, from our kitchen table, from our couch if we wish, for any reason or no reason.”

Simon doesn’t think voter ID, whether required or voluntary, is necessary. Minnesota’s elections are honest and clean, he said, with only a “small incidence of voter irregularities.”

Mark Ritchie, who was elected secretary of state in 2010, is not running for re-election.