Today the MN Secretary of State's Office launched a new page on their website. It's a page where you can look up the status of your voter registration.
Secretary of State Mark Ritchie says the service will make the voting process easier by addressing one of the most frequently asked election questions.
"We know that this service is one that's going to save a lot of voters time," Ritchie said. "And it's going to save a lot of local elections officials money, because the number of phone calls and just the staff time, they will not have to be devoted to this particular question."
Ritchie says the online tool only verifies registration and does not disclose any information about individual voters. His office staff will demonstrate the new service during the Minnesota State Fair.
I immediately looked myself up, and sure enough, I'm registered to vote at my current address. Good to know.
I looked up my sister who was recently married (so, a name change) and they could not find her registration (because she has a new name, something that you have to re-register for)
Thank you for another tool that helps to empower voters, and saves our local election officials some time (and some money).
Oh, I'm sure you know that Minnesota's Secretary of State is our state's highest election official-overseeing and working with all 87 Counties and their local election officials, (usually a County Auditor or Recorder or other County position) as well as the numerous election clerks and judges throughout each county.
Sure, that's the work that gets all the demagoguery and all the glory. Some try to tear down our Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and the work that he and his office have done over the last almost four years to ensure that every vote counts, and that every eligible person is able to vote, no matter what might try to get in their way.
But, most Minnesotans know that our elections here in Minnesota are some of the smoothest, most efficient, and most transparent in all of the United States.
What you might not know is that the Office of the Secretary of State does so many more things, and only a fraction of its business relates to election officials and election officiating.
Has campaigning for your favorite candidate caused you hurt feelings? Have you been experiencing feelings of rejection and pain? Is the experience not quite what you wanted it to be or what it started out to be? Do you feel that your efforts are unappreciated? Have you been scolded and reprimanded? Do you feel that the campaign doesn't listen to your good ideas?
If so, then read below the break. This article may help...
Thank goodness for Al Franken. But we almost didn't get him into office. We almost had Norm Coleman as the junior senator for Minnesota.
Here's why that happened, and why everyone needs to pay attention to what happened:
The Franken campaign, for reasons I will never understand, failed to connect with new voters who supported President Obama.
At my Saint Paul precincts polling place, I took my time when I showed up to vote. I was watching what went on. What I saw told me why the Franken/Coleman race was so close, while Obama swept the state.
I was at the polling place for about an hour. In that time, at least a third of the voters were registering at the polling place. It was clear that they had not voted before...ever. Some were black, some were Hmong, some were hispanic. To a person, once they got their ballot, they were in the voting booth for less than 30 seconds.
They voted for President Obama, then ran their ballot through the scanner. They didn't vote for any other candidate or any other issue...only for Obama.
The Franken campaign did not align itself with the Obama campaign and make it clear that voting for Franken was as important as voting for Obama. I saw no campaign ads stressing that.
I mentioned this to a few people in the Franken campaign, long before the election, but the concept seemed foreign to them. They couldn't visualize anyone casting just a vote for President. Surely, they thought, these new voters would vote for DFL candidates down the line.
The results show that not to be the case. Campaigns need to pay attention to the details. They need to get every vote. Nothing else will do.
We almost had Norm Coleman as our Senator, ladies and gentlemen. Imagine!
If you're involved in a campaign, keep this in mind. How many people will go to the polls and vote for the Governor's race and stop there? Don't make Franken's mistake and miss those votes. We need to work together. It's not just the campaign you're working on...it's progressivism across the board.
This is from the website of the Minnesota Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Alliance.
On February 25, 2010, two of the leading non-partisan elections groups in Minnesota - Citizens for Election Integrity MN and Common Cause MN - released (a response) to a report, issued in Oct 2009 from the conservative think-tank Center of the American Experiment, that used faulty information to cast unfounded doubt on Minnesota's elections systems.
The referenced report is here. It's long and detailed (also, compelling and conclusive). This is from the end:
The Center of the American Experiment (CAE) proposes that significant changes are needed in Minnesota's election systems. However, the CAE report provides no documentation to back up its claims and, upon close scrutiny, its claims are found to be highly inaccurate and misleading, which calls into question its conclusions and recommendations. We have seen the report's so-called facts as well as its recommendations in opinion pieces in newspapers across Minnesota. One example of a fact is its claim that the rejection rate for military absentee voters was16 times greater than regular absentee voters, when in fact it was double. In addition, the military absentee rejection rate was cut in half between 2006 and 2008 and further improvements have already been made. Since its facts have been published throughout Minnesota, we hope that our response will also be published to set the record straight.
In full, the CAE's recommendations are a pretty flagrant attempt to limit voting rights, as much as possible, to those likely to vote Republican. In a sense, you can't blame them. Long-term demographics, including increasing levels of educational attainment, are working against hard-core conservatism; limiting the franchise is one way to try to counteract that. (The recent Supreme Court decision on campaign finance was, flagrantly and despicably, another. Count on the righties' efforts becoming ever more extreme.)
No doubt many viewers of this blog are already at least somewhat familiar with the ideology, activities, and better-known personnel, past and present, at the CAE. Here's its website. And here's measured and respectful commentary, by me, below the fold.
Ladies and Gentlemen, yours truly - the ol' TwoPutter - is filling in for Steve Bucher and guest hosting today's "Minnesota Matters Show" on AM-950 KTNF - The Voice Of Minnesota! Joining in-studio will be intrepid field reporter and fellow blogger Dusty Trice, and a very special guest: John Fitzgerald, the Education Fellow at MN2020.org! The show runs from 6:00 to 7pm. So, tune in your radio today to AM-950, or listen live on your computer, here.
While others are covering metro and 'burb elections, we're going to discuss what Greater Minnesotans mostly voted for and what that tells us about the state of The Great State of Minnesota - so be sure to tune in and hear analysis you probably won't hear anywhere else!
Here's some quick stories about Greater Minnesota election results:
This is a cross post from my blog MinnesotaBrown.com, the only blog with global perspective and Iron Range sensibility.
Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie headlines a civil liberty conference Wednesday, April 8, at Itasca Community College in Grand Rapids. Ritchie's nonpartisan address about the importance of free and fair elections will come 24 hours after today's court ordered counting of just under 400 more U.S. Senate ballots now deemed admissible. As most of you know by now, Franken expanded his lead in the final count, winning the election by 312 votes.
Ritchie has received widespread bipartisan accolades for the way he handled Minnesota's complicated and frustrating U.S. Senate race between Coleman and Franken. Though the legal process allowed under Minnesota's "be extra, extra sure" election law could yet drag out for some time, the counting and the due process were expertly and fairly observed by Ritchie. Now people have a chance to ask him questions and hear his perspective on how this news story fits into the common American value of free and fair elections. And, for upstaters like me, it's nice to see some of this discussion move to northern Minnesota.
The conference starts at 9 a.m. at ICC and will feature numerous presenters and a forum involving representatives of local political parties explaining their perspective on top civil liberties issues. Ritchie's presentation is at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the college theater. The conference is a nonpartisan event that will explore many aspects of civil liberties, from human rights to personal freedoms. The event is free and open to the public.
Local DFLers are holding a 3:30 p.m. reception for Ritchie at the Itasca County DFL headquarters on Highway 169.
(Disclosure: I am a central committee director for the Itasca County DFL but write this independently).
Thanks to twitterer MSPdude we've gotten our hands on what I think is the first direct mailer of the 2010 gubernatorial race. Dayton takes a very aggressive, progressive tone in both this mailer and an e-mail he recently send out (below the fold) and recent speeches. In them he attacks "turncoat" Democratic senators, touts his opposition to the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, his vote against Condi's confirmation and higher taxes for the wealthy. He says he's running for governor beacuse that's where real progressive change can happen.
(Click on them for full size. Very large images)
In addition he's been taking the same tone on the campaign trail. Here's what he said at a recent Beltrami County DFL event:
"The wealthy have gotten away with armed robbery," says former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton. "The wealthiest 10 percent pay less of their incomes in state and local taxes than the next 60 percent."
....
That Pawlenty won't raise taxes "even one penny," Dayton said, "is a disgrace."
The St. Paul Pioneer Press printed/posted a very even-handed article about what we have learned from the MN-SEN election, recount and election contest suit. In it Elizabeth Dunbar (Associated Press) brings forward the suggestion that MN might be well-served to consider early voting. This differs from absentee voting in that you don't need any reason or excuse why you can't vote on election day. It's just an option. She gets good information from several experts. It's a good article.
Securing the votes in Congress to pass real immigration solutions into law isn't going to be easy. The next President - no matter who wins - will need to lead his own party first to get it done.
Sen. Norm Coleman kicks off his reelection campaign with a formal announcement and rally at his campaign headquarters in Saint Paul.
Technical problems on the live player - check back for a video story soon.
Sorry for the problems
We are back in operation.
[UPDATE] The feed from the Norm Coleman launch is in the extended entry, it's not too great because of a weak signal. We will have high-quality footage of the event up soon.
A new SurveyUSA poll shows Norm Coleman leading DFL challenger Al Franken, 51% - 41%. Coleman also came out way ahead of Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, 57-28, and Darryl Stanton, 57-27.
According to the poll, Coleman leads Franken among women, 49-44, and among independents, 48-42. The poll represents a departure from recent polls, which showed a race quickly moving into "statistically tied" territory.
Call it spin, but this poll has "outlier" written all over it.
