Secretary of State Mark Ritchie: ‘Misrepresentation and voter initimidation will not be tolerated by this office’

In a video released today by the UpTake, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie outlined allegations of voter intimidation by Minnesota Majority. Ritchie revealed during a press conference on Wednesday that someone working for Minnesota Majority president Jeff Davis was phoning voters and posing as a representative of the Secretary of State’s office. We wrote about the group’s tactics last week, exposing how their attempts at questioning the integrity of Minnesota’s voter rolls was, according to Deputy Secretary of State Jim Gelbmann, one of the ways the conservative organization was trying to suppress votes in Democrat-leaning counties.

Learn more about the lawsuit here, and watch the video by the UpTake of the press conference and Minnesota Majority’s ties to former SoS Mary Kiffmeyer after the jump.

Secretary of State asks for investigation of alleged voter intimidation call tied to Minnesota Majority

Minnesota Majority, a conservative group that was until recently headed by Republican activist and former Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, is under fire by current Secretary of State Mark Ritchie for alleged voter intimidation. Ritchie announced today that he has asked prosecutors to look into a phone call placed to a St. Paul man on behalf of the group.

Election official: Group tied to ex-MN Secretary of State Kiffmeyer aims to ‘keep people from voting’

Former Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer may not be in the business of supervising elections anymore, but it doesn’t mean she and her friends have abandoned their old habits.

The “traditional values” organization of which Kiffmeyer is the executive director, Minnesota Majority, has been poking around Minnesota’s voter-registration file, and in a pair of letters to Secretary of State Mark Ritchie’s office over the past week, MN Majority president Jeff Davis claims to have unearthed thousands of suspicious registrations in the state’s voter records.

She’s back! Controversial former SoS Kiffmeyer seeks to replace convicted legislator

Last weekend former Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer got the endorsement nod from House District 16B Republicans to replace embattled Rep. Mark Olson, whose conviction for domestic assault…

Kiffmeyer running for Olson’s House seat

Former Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer announced this weekend that she will run for the Minnesota House seat currently occupied by Mark Olson, who was convicted last summer of domestic assault.

Olson, of Big Lake,…

Spiritual War: Controversial Ideas Stoke Ministry Fundraiser

A local Minnesota youth ministry believes that the pope is the devil, that attention deficit disorder, depression and alcoholism are myths, and that their organization is involved in a spiritual war for the soul of America.
Support for those positions…

State Official’s Speeches to Liberal Groups Criticized While Kiffmeyer’s Record Ignored

In an article about Democratic Secretary of State Mark Ritchie’s proposed automatic voter registration legislation, Star Tribune writer Dane Smith noted Republican concerns about Ritchie’s partisanship. In the article, Smith quoted a Republican Party official who charged that Ritchie had…

Insider outsider: An interview with Mark Ritchie

Experienced at working with international institutions and  grassroots activists alike, Mark Ritchie has been known to use an “insider-outsider strategy.” It’s an apt descriptor: A onetime chicken farmer and co-op organizer, he’s addressed…

Where was Mary Kiffmeyer born?

For the as long as I can remember Mary Kiffmeyer has been claiming that she was born in Pierz, Minnesota.  According to her website:

Mary was born December 29th, 1946

…

A New Focus on Down-Ballot Races

In every election, the top-of-the-ballot races get most of the attention.  But in the aftermath of election fiascos in the last two presidential elections, there has been a renewed focus across the country on the “other” elected officials – those…