On Nov. 8, the Star Tribune published a commentary by Dan McGrath that depicted Minnesota as a haven for those bent on voter fraud (“Ellison would export loose voting laws“). This from the mouthpiece of Minnesota Majority, a group whose articles of incorporation specifically state that it has no members and whose donor list is in the low single digits. U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison is right in promoting Minnesota’s system of voting, one of the cleanest and most transparent in the nation. But McGrath plays loose with the truth.
So in the interest of Minnesota fair play, humor me while I lay out the facts. First, there were indeed approximately 140 ex-felons convicted of voting while on parole. However, that number included no people convicted for impersonating a voter — the crime that voter ID purports to stop.
In fact, 99.995 percent of those who voted in the 2010 election were not accused of wrongdoing in any manner. That is a level of product quality that would make any quality-control director proud. Also, the logical fix to felon voting is to provide them notice when their rights are restored, or even to let people vote who are not in prison.
Second, McGrath states that voter ID laws have been upheld as constitutional when challenged. Untrue. The voter ID law in Missouri was overturned as unconstitutional in 2006 (Weinschenk vs. State).
Third, he refers to federal litigation over the Georgia law, saying that the judge upheld the law after hearing the evidence. Wrong again. In the first case, the judge temporarily halted implementation of the voter ID law because the state hadn’t had time to educate people about the changes.
Full Article: Case for voter ID is based on misdirection | StarTribune.com.