Supporters of a proposed Minnesota voter ID amendment say it will protect the integrity of the state’s election system, while opponents point to several studies finding the kind of fraud the proposed requirement is designed to prevent is extremely rare. Weeks before voters get the chance to decide whether to approve an amendment to the state constitution to require a photo ID at the polls, deep divisions persist about whether it’s needed, Minnesota Public Radio reported. Dan McGrath, who runs the pro-amendment campaign Protect My Vote, said the group has found that Minnesota topped all states in the number of voter fraud convictions linked to a single election — nearly 200 convictions from 2008, when Democrat Al Franken defeated Republican Norm Coleman in the U.S. Senate race by a razor-thin 312 vote margin after a recount and court challenges. McGrath said that means fraud “played a role” in the race.
“Now, it may have impacted the way the election went. I don’t know,” McGrath said. “We can’t know that, and that leads to problems, when someone is sitting in office as a representative of the people, and we don’t know whether we actually elected them or not.”
McGrath concedes other kinds of alleged fraud, such as voter impersonation, are difficult to prove. Voter ID opponents say this fall’s proposed amendment wouldn’t do anything to solve the problems McGrath has identified.
Full Article: Divisions persist on need for voter ID amendment – SFGate.