Pawlenty’s voter-registration vetoes cut new drivers and ex-cons no slack

No, VOTING should be a voluntary, intentional act. REGISTERING should be automatic. Pawlenty just knows that young people and ex cons won’t vote for him!

This makes me absolutely furious. Either Pawlenty is seriously evil or an idiot.

Voting should be voluntary. Registering to vote must be made easier in this day and time. It is very interesting that Republicans want as few as folk to vote as possible. Is that because they realize the “product” they produce no longer fools enough people?

American citizens can always opt-out of voting. Perhaps Pawlenty forgot about the percentage of people that utilized same-day registration in the last election — most of whom used a drivers license to verify their identity. And perhaps Pawlenty forgot all about all the testimony of voters that had their ballots not counted because they weren’t registered properly — most of whom have drivers licenses.

Luckily, Minnesota has a top expert on the subject: Mark Ritchie. I’m sure Ritchie made his time available for Pawlenty to understand voting issues a bit better; it’s too bad Pawlenty didn’t take advantage of this.

Does anyone know the date that the Aryan Nation and Council of Conservative Citizens Hail their Victory over Minnesota?

Aaron, Pawlenty’s no idiot. He’s one of the smartest Republicans with a national profile, and he’s a skilled politician. I guess that leaves seriously evil. I do think he’s intensely ambitious, intensely partisan, and without the ability to empathize beyond an immediate circle. Were that not so, he would recognize that felons know they risk returning to prison for voting illegally and they’re not sure of when they’re legal, so they don’t vote. If he could empathize, he would realize it’s wrong to leave them not knowing. If he were practical, he would realize that if we want felons to act like responsible citizens, we would encourage them to vote because that’s what responsible citizens are supposed to do. If he were as partisan but DFL, he would make damn sure felons voted.

i think his responses to vetoing the bills should have been “i’m a lier don’t trust anything i say.”

T-Paw knows if he passed bills enabling people to vote he would be out on his butt.
Mr. Almost 40 Percent would be beaten by a landslide if there were fewer errors in the
voter database that is by law checked against the driver license data and voters rejected
for stuff like ABSENTEE ballots. This veto is a crooked attempt at vote manipulation.

Hey, i was just thinking, that most ex-felons are probably very pro-gun rights. How many of them use firearms as part of their occupations? So, why is Pawlenty alienating these potential Republican voters? I wonder if there were not over 312 ex-felons who might have voted for the pro-gun Coleman in the past election, if they only knew that their civil rights had been restored.

Manipulation of Minnesota’s voting system by a partisan governor is likely unconstitutional. Let’s see how long it takes to challenge this in the Courts.

[...] Pawlenty’s voter-registration vetoes cut new drivers and ex-cons no slack The words “veto” and “vote” may share the same letters but they’re at odds on Gov. Pawlenty’s desk the last two days. He won’t let Minnesotans get registered automatically as voters when they get licensed as drivers, and he won’t let felons get a letter about it when they get their voting rights back, either. Minnesota Independent [...]