Number of Voters Does Not Reconcile with the Number of Ballots

Minnesota Majority, joined by five state legislators and concerned citizens launched a lawsuit in the Minnesota Supreme Court today, charging that Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and 25 county election have failed to comply with election laws. The action was announced in a press conference this morning.

Plaintiffs in the suit are Minnesota Majority, Jeff Davis, Dan McGrath, Jean Sanford, David Fitzsimmons, Representatives Matt Dean, Tom Emmer and Mark Buesgens and Senators Warren Limmer and David Senjem.

The lawsuit is based upon research recently conducted by Minnesota Majority. We compared the Minnesota Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS) to the official 2008 State Canvassing Board Report (SCBR) and discovered a large discrepancy between the number of voters recorded in the voter registration system to the number of ballots cast on Election Day.  Both the SVRS and the SCBR were provided by the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office.  In late April, Bert Black, legal counsel to Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, told Minnesota Majority that SVRS voter history updates pertaining to the 2008 general election had been completed by all counties, but the data on the SVRS disk provided showed that not to be the case.

The federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and Minnesota statute 201.171 require the Secretary of State and county election officials to update the Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS) immediately following an election.  Minnesota Statute specifies that the task must be complete no later than 6 weeks following an election. But nearly 7 months after the November 2008 election, voter registration records are still not updated.

The lawsuit targets counties that are missing voter history updates for one or more precincts, but the out-of-balance problems do not appear to be limited to just these counties. “This isn’t simply a minor recordkeeping error,” said Davis. “If we cannot trust our election officials to perform the basic job of balancing their books, how can we possibly have confidence in our election system?”

“The state legislature wrote our laws to ensure integrity and transparency in our elections,” said State Representative Tom Emmer. “I’m troubled to see that the laws aren’t being followed by the officials who we have entrusted to administer our elections.  Instead of transparency, we have mud.  How can we determine what’s going on if we can’t even balance the vote totals?”

State Representative Mark Buesgens added, “This is simply unacceptable. The people of Minnesota deserve an election system they can be confident in and frankly, this doesn’t inspire much confidence in me.”

Minnesota Majority has advocated for improvements in the integrity of Minnesota’s electoral process since we initially discovered inconsistencies in voter registration records in October 2008.  Specific reform measures, such as voter ID controls and independent audits, were introduced in the 2009 legislative session, but were defeated by the DFL-controlled state legislature.

Our investigation into election issues is ongoing.

Take Action: Sign the Election Integrity Petition.

This lawsuit will cost us thousands of dollars, but we think its worth it to improve the integrity of our elections.  Please consider making an online donation to help fund the lawsuit.

A House/Senate Conference Committee just passed an election provisions bill. SF 1331 makes substantial and potentially dangerous changes to the way elections will be conducted in Minnesota.

• Call Governor Pawlenty now at 651-296-3391 and thank him for vetoing SF 1331, the Omnibus Elections Provisions bill.
• Contact your representatives and urge them to support voter photo ID. 

Republished from OneNewsNow.com

A surprising revelation from a homosexual activist over the purpose of the "hate crimes" bill is drawing kudos from at least one pro-family spokesman.

The activist is Andrew Sullivan, one of the movers and shakers in the international homosexual movement. "The real reason for hate crime laws is not the defense of human beings from crime. There are already laws against that," Sullivan writes on his blog, "and Matthew Shepard's murderers were successfully prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law in a state with no hate crimes law at the time."
 
Sullivan continues: "The real reason for the invention of hate crimes was a hard-left critique of conventional liberal justice and the emergence of special interest groups which need boutique legislation to raise funds for their large staffs and luxurious buildings. Just imagine how many direct mail pieces have gone out explaining that without more money for [Human Rights Campaign], more gay human beings will be crucified on fences. It's very, very powerful as a money-making tool -- which may explain why the largely symbolic federal bill still hasn't passed."

Results from a related poll

What's the primary motivation behind 'hate crimes' law?

Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel read the blog entry and offers this take on Sullivan's comments on Senate Bill 909.
 
"He is to be commended for his candor," says Barber. "He has admitted publicly now that the hate crimes bill...is, among other things, simply a money-making scheme drummed up by the organized homosexualist lobby."
 
S. 909 is called the Matthew Shepard Act to honor a young homosexual man who was tortured and killed in 1998 not because of his sexual orientation, but during the course of a robbery. As Barber notes, the murder has been used as a money-raiser, too.
 
"Andrew Sullivan points this irony out and points out how ridiculous it is that they are using [Shepard's] name, exploiting this poor young man's horrible death to try to push a money-making scheme...a social ponzi scheme," says Barber.
 
"The cat's out of the bag," he continues. "Sullivan's admission...is both refreshing and stunning at the same time."
 
The hate crimes bill, which has already passed the House, would add sexual orientation to other protected classes.

On Thursday, Governor Tim Pawlenty held a press conference at the State Capitol saying that "“Politics as usual around this place is over. The people of Minnesota expect and deserve timely and decisive action. I will not let the legislature’s work spill over into a special session. We are not going to waste taxpayer money with a costly overtime or have a state government shutdown, especially in this economy. My preference would be for DFL legislators to work with me on a reasonable budget solution, but if they can’t get that done I will take executive action to balance the budget.” (click here to read the full press release from the governor's office).

Democrats in the state legislature ignored reform ideas such as that offered by the Minnesota Budget Solution Coalition that balanced the state budget without increasing taxes.  Insteady, DFL leaders worked to pass budget bills that raises taxes and leaves a $3 billion shortfall between anticipated revenue and spending. “If the DFL cannot balance this budget without reaching into Minnesotans’ pockets and increasing our already uncompetitive taxes in ways that will kill job growth, I’m prepared to make the tough decisions they’ve avoided and take action to balance the budget.”

The response from Democrats was swift and harsh. House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher says that Pawlenty's move is "bullying" and called him "Governor Go It Alone." Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller said the governor could take that approach “if he thinks he’s king."  Eliot Seide, the head of AFSCME Council 5, the largest union representing state workers, said "we just saw the suspension of democracy today."

The session is scheduled to end on Monday, May 18 at midnight.  Liberal special interest groups will now be mounting a frontal attack on the governor's office to try to convince him to change his mind and support a tax increase.

TAKE ACTION:  Call Governor Pawlenty NOW and tell him to stand strong against liberal pressure to increase our taxes. 

Join in the fight to protect our wallets and reduce state government spending. Minnesota Majority, together with like-minded organizations, is sponsoring the 3rd Budget Hawk’s Jam & Bash at Trocadero’s Night Club in Minneapolis on Thursday, May 14th from 5:00 - 8:00 PM.

Our last two events in February and April were wildly successful, with hundreds gathering for refreshments, networking, chats with like-minded neighbors, and political leaders.

Learn more about what you can do to fight liberal lawmakers who want to increase spending and raise our taxes at this fun, free event. An immediate call to action is expected. Be prepared to take the next important step to preserve our rights to the fruits of our labor and our liberty.

Here’s a link with a map to Trocadero’s and  here’s a link with a map for parking.  Hope to see you there.