Warning: Illegal string offset 'status_txt' in /homepages/20/d139069589/htdocs/VoterID/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/share-and-follow.php on line 1243
Warning: Illegal string offset 'status_txt' in /homepages/20/d139069589/htdocs/VoterID/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/share-and-follow.php on line 1243
Warning: Illegal string offset 'status_txt' in /homepages/20/d139069589/htdocs/VoterID/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/share-and-follow.php on line 1243
Warning: Illegal string offset 'status_txt' in /homepages/20/d139069589/htdocs/VoterID/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/share-and-follow.php on line 1243
Warning: Illegal string offset 'status_txt' in /homepages/20/d139069589/htdocs/VoterID/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/share-and-follow.php on line 1243
Warning: Illegal string offset 'status_txt' in /homepages/20/d139069589/htdocs/VoterID/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/share-and-follow.php on line 1243
Warning: Illegal string offset 'status_txt' in /homepages/20/d139069589/htdocs/VoterID/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/share-and-follow.php on line 1243
Warning: Illegal string offset 'status_txt' in /homepages/20/d139069589/htdocs/VoterID/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/share-and-follow.php on line 1243
Warning: Illegal string offset 'status_txt' in /homepages/20/d139069589/htdocs/VoterID/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/share-and-follow.php on line 1243
Warning: Illegal string offset 'status_txt' in /homepages/20/d139069589/htdocs/VoterID/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/share-and-follow.php on line 1243
Warning: Illegal string offset 'status_txt' in /homepages/20/d139069589/htdocs/VoterID/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/share-and-follow.php on line 1243
Coalition of Voter ID supporters refutes Mark Ritchie’s false statements about constitutional amendment, calls on him to start being honest
Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie isn’t being honest with the public when it comes to the voter ID amendment. That’s what a coalition of organizations in support of Voter ID said at a press conference held across from Ritchie’s office this morning.
“It’s remarkable that the secretary of state, the man we’ve entrusted to safeguard our election process is making such wildly misleading statements about an election matter and deceiving voters,” said We Want Voter ID spokesman Lucky Rosenbloom.
The coalition has taken issue with recent claims by Secretary Ritchie, including his statement that the Voter ID amendment would end Election Day registration.
“Absolutely not true,” said Randy Liebo with the North Star Tea Party. “We believe it’s a cynical, hyper-partisan political ploy to pit a popular feature of Minnesota’s election system against a popular reform to the system. Ritchie is trying to create the impression that voters will have to choose between Election Day registration and Voter ID, but it’s a false dilemma.
“The pollbook technology the secretary of state is suddenly gung ho for is a prime example of how voters can be verified as eligible on Election Day using database matching processes,” Liebo went on to say. “The 21st Century Voter ID bill passed last year shows exactly how voters can be instantly verified in the polling place. There’s no reason to believe that Election Day registration is in any kind of jeopardy. Our antiquated vouching law will be eliminated, but people with proper ID will be able to register and vote on Election Day just like they always have.”
The coalition also took issue with the secretary’s claims that 500,000 to 600,000 provisional ballots can be expected to delay reporting of election results, increase local property taxes by tens of millions of dollars and result in up to 200,000 ballots not being counted, threatening the state’s high voter turn out rate. All of this is a completely unfounded fabrication and looks like nothing but scare tactics to me.
“Utter nonsense and baseless scare tactics,” said Dan McGrath of Minnesota Majority. “Indiana has a strict Voter ID law, a similar voting population to Minnesota and in the last election, they had only about 7,000 provisional ballots cast. Apply that to Minnesota’s roughly 4,000 precincts and it averages out to less than 2 provisional ballots per precinct. I don’t know how Secretary Ritchie can keep a straight face while he’s saying some of this.”
“It appears to us that the secretary of state is abusing is office to advance a hyper-partisan political agenda with misleading statements and misinformation,” said Rosenbloom. “The secretary doesn’t have to like Voter ID, but he is obligated to conduct his duties with integrity. The people of Minnesota deserve an unbiased and honest chief election official.”
Please, DEMAND that SOS Ritchie take down his spreadsheet showing the number of people (supposedly) without “currently valid ID.” It doesn’t tell anybody who could not GET a valid ID under the new law and is being used to influence a current political issue. That is a violation of election law!