Wisconsin Family Action (WFA), a group affiliated with the Family Research Council and a leader in opposing LGBT rights in the state, is being accused by Democrats of sending out absentee ballot applications with an inaccurate deadline for the state’s…
Last week, Republican Rep. Mary Kiffmeyer of Big Lake said that if she couldn’t get her bill to require photo identification at the voting booth passed into law, she would seek a constitutional amendment. She made good on that promise Wednesday when she and 33 other Republicans introduced a measure that if passed would put the issue on the ballot in 2012.
Rep. Mary Kiffmeyer of Big Lake and Sen. Warren Limmer of Maple Grove unveiled the Republican plan to overhaul the state’s voting system at a press conference on Wednesday. Among the proposed changes are the elimination of vouching, implementation of a photo identification system, a ban on health care workers assisting voters in the booth, and massive changes to the recount process. Most of the changes reflect complaints by the conservative group Minnesota Majority, which Kiffmeyer ran several years ago.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty handed over artifacts from his time as governor on Monday including an over-sized “Veto Pen.” In a press release from the governor’s office, Pawlenty boasted that he broke the record for most vetoes in one year and that he used the veto or line-item veto 299 times in his 8 years in office.
Minnesota media is reporting several instances of overzealous election challengers in polling places as the Republican Party of Minnesota ramps up its allegations of voter fraud. In several Minnesota precincts, reporters confirmed that GOP poll challengers have overstepped their bounds. Meanwhile, the GOP claims that ballot scanners were not working properly in some jurisdictions and that group home assistants have been telling people how to vote.
Two groups — Citizens for a Better Minneapolis and the Minnesota Voters Alliance (MVA) — are attempting to make voting in Minneapolis a bit more restrictive: They’ve started a petition in hopes of making photo identifications a requirement for voting in the city. But as critics — dubbed “fruitcakes” by MVA’s head — point out, most of the activists behind the drive don’t live in Minneapolis, and one of the groups didn’t exist until a week ago.
Rep. Michele Bachmann’s political opponents have targeted her busy national travel and media schedule saying it has hampered her ability to work for her district. One of those criticisms is that she’s missed a large number of votes. The Minnesota Independent analyzed Bachmann’s record to determine if those charges stand up to scrutiny.
Rep. Tom Emmer introduced a bill last Thursday mandating photo identification in order to vote in Minnesota. Emmer, a Republican candidate for governor, has gained the support of the Tea Party on the bill.
To stamp out voter fraud, GOP legislators have offered a proposal that would make Minnesota’s voter-ID laws the most restrictive in the country. But according to their own party, no actual cases of voter fraud have been reported here.
As of Tuesday night, Hennepin County officials had yet to recount ballots from Minneapolis’ Precinct 1, Ward 3. But when they do, there likely won’t be as many ballots to count as there were voters who tried to cast them. Residents of a student cooperative on the University of Minnesota campus weren’t able to register at their polling place this year like they did in past elections. The problem: Election officials would not accept the same kind of proof of residency they had in the past. It remains unclear how many students were turned away — and whether their votes could have an impact in the stil up-in-the-air U.S. Senate race. Video and more after the jump.
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