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Dan McGrath |
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3/10/2008 |
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Dan is a Minneapolis resident. Living in the heart of the beast, he brings an urban perspective to Minnesota conservatism. |
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Election Integrity Bill Passed Unanimously |
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By Dan McGrath on
3/28/2010
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 House and Senate in Full Agreement With Changes to Election Administration Laws, Sans Photo ID
After the 2008 election, Minnesota Majority discovered that not only were dead voters still on the voter rolls, but the secretary of state’s voter history files indicated that some had voted. The secretary of state’s office explained that data entry errors were more likely to blame in at least 5 instances, but not all have been investigated. The new bill will require the secretary of state’s office to conduct additional checks on the voter files to eliminate deceased voters, including cross-referencing the social security administration, essentially the same check Minnesota Majority performed to discover deceased voters. This will help ensure that the voter records of people who die out of state are properly removed, an integrity step that is severely hindered under the current election statutes.
Convicted felons on the voter rolls will also be more likely to be detected with a required check similar to what Minnesota Majority did to discover up to 2,800 felons who are suspected of voting illegally in the 2008 election. The secretary of state’s office will have to cross-reference voter registration records with the department of corrections database. Previously, felons were only challenged if the secretary of state or county auditors received a notice from the courts. Under the new bill, felons who are registered to vote will be proactively checked for.
In the wake of the contentious 2008 election, tens of thousands of newly registered voters could not be verified by mail. The secretary of state mails a postal verification card (PVC) to registrants, informing them of their polling location and confirming that they registered. If that post card is returned undeliverable, the voter is flagged for challenge at the next election, although their vote had already been counted. Over 60,000 of those postcards were returned after the 2008 election. This information isn’t easy for the public or the legislature to find. With passage of the election administration bill, a report to the legislature on returned PVCs will be generated after each general election, and county attorneys will be compelled to investigate instances where an obvious and legitimate explanation for a returned postcard can’t be discerned.
Although the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) requires checks for non-citizens, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie failed to use Department of Public Safety (DPS) data for the first two years he was in office to check for non-citizens on the voter rolls, even though DPS had provided his office a monthly update. The elections bill clarifies the secretary of state’s responsibility to use DPS data to determine whether known non-citizens have become registered to vote. The bill also requires notice to county attorneys when non-citizens are discovered on the voter rolls.
Minnesota Majority’s research revealed that the Statewide Voter Registration System’s voter history files cannot account for all ballots counted in the 2008 general election. The canvassing board reported 2,920,214 ballots, but as of April of 2009, the secretary of state could only account for 2,878,899 voters who participated in the 2008 election. That means over 40,000 ballots were counted than voters who signed in or submitted an absentee ballot.
The secretary of state’s office has since whittled that discrepancy down to around 25,000 ballots and suggested that the discrepancy can be explained by nuances in SVRS reporting and the dynamic nature of the system, but Minnesota Majority also examined original polling place rosters and absentee ballot envelopes in three Ramsey county precincts and found discrepancies there that can’t be accounted for by the secretary of state’s explanation. Between the three precincts scrutinized, over 50 more ballots had been counted in the certified election results than there were signatures of voters. There are thousands of precincts in Minnesota and it’s strongly suspected that there are similar discrepancies in many others.
To help combat future vote total discrepancies, the bill requires a reconciling of ballots at every precinct. Election judges will be required to count blank ballots received, ballots used, spoiled or duplicated, absentee ballots received and also count the number of voters who signed in. All counts must balance at the end of election night and a report of all counts must be prepared by the election judges.
Another significant feature of the bill comes courtesy of Representative Dan Severson, who discovered that a travesty had occurred regarding military absentee ballots in the 2008 election. Because the secretary of state’s office did not prepare and disseminate military ballots quickly enough, over 8% of the military absentee ballots that made it back to Minnesota were ultimately rejected, mostly because they arrived too late to be counted. As many as 2,100 other ballots sent out to military members overseas never came back at all, likely because they had already missed the deadline for return by the time they were received by the soldiers.
Severson, an Air Force veteran himself, fought for changes in the way military absentee ballots will be handled by Minnesota election officials. Under the new bill, soldiers deployed overseas will have more options for acceptable forms of absentee ballots and another elections bill Severson worked on that was recently signed by the governor addressed the small window of time for military ballots to be sent out and return. These new provisions will re-enfranchise our soldiers who should never be denied their right to participate in our elections.
Minnesota Majority is very pleased that our research and advocacy has compelled the legislature to take action to clean up some of the glaring problems in Minnesota’s election system. HF3108 is a great start on improving integrity in our elections, but it does leave some pretty big holes in place. Same-day registrants still aren’t subjected to the scrutiny voters who register in advance of an election are and the number of same-day registrants has risen sharply in recent years. Checks to verify the identity of same-day registrants aren’t performed until after their votes have been cast and counted.
The most obvious integrity measure is nowhere to be found in the bill. Requiring a photo ID to vote is the absolute best way to curtail fraud and verify residency for purposes of establishing a voter’s eligibility to vote in a given precinct. That isn’t going to happen this session, but we’ll continue to fight for it again next year.
Minnesota Majority thanks all of our members who have taken part in the fight for election integrity by volunteering to help with research, showing up at rallies, signing the election integrity petition, calling legislators and everything else. Thanks also to the champions of the election administration bill: Representatives Mary Kiffmeyer (16B), Ryan Winkler (44B), Senators Chris Gerlach (37) and Katie Sieben (57).
Take Action: Contact your state representative and senator and tell them, 'thank you' for their vote for election integrity.
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Defend Minnesota’s Constitutional Rights, Stop Obamacare |
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By Dan McGrath on
3/24/2010
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 State Legislators, Governor Stand Up Against Federal Overreach
The new health care law rammed through by Speaker Pelosi, Senator Harry Reid and just signed by President Obama will force you to buy an expensive, federal government-approved health insurance policy on penalty of fines and even imprisonment. This is an unprecedented and unconstitutional abuse of federal power.
The 10th Amendment to the US Constitution is very clear about the limitations of the federal government’s enumerated powers. It reads, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
The ink of President Obama’s signature on the hotly opposed health care reform bill was barely dry when the lawsuits began. 14 states have so far launched suits to overturn the new health care law, asserting that it is unconstitutional and abridges states’ rights. Virginia was the first to tee up to sue, but the 13 other states were quick to follow.
In Minnesota, state senator Julianne Ortman (R-34) attempted to move a resolution that would call on Attorney General Lori Swanson to prepare to defend Minnesota’s sovereignty, but Democrats on the Health, Housing and Family security committee wanted to turn it around and amend Ortman’s resolution to instead support Obamacare. Ultimately, that resolution was tabled, but Governor Pawlenty picked up that ball, writing a letter calling on the Attorney General to investigate Minnesota’s legal options.
In addition, the entire Republican caucus of both the state House and the Senate have signed a letter asking Swanson to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the health care law.
So far Lori Swanson, an ACORN endorsee, has been recalcitrant. Her response was, “Our Office has not yet read and analyzed the 2,400 page bill... The Attorney General’s Office operates in the legal arena and we are not going to make any legal comments until we have had the opportunity to review the 2,400 page bill.” Swanson’s campaign website says she distributed “tens of thousands of pamphlets advocating for universal health care.”
State Representative Ryan Winkler (D-44B) said the lawsuit effort was “frivolous,” and added, “The states’ rights argument is a myth.”
Craftily, most of the health care ‘reforms’ don’t take effect for 2-3 years. Lawmakers who pushed Obamacare against the will of the overwhelming majority probably hoped their votes would be long forgotten by then, but it also affords us an opportunity to stop it before any serious damage is done.
Take Action:
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Senate Resolution on Obamacare Dead in Committee |
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By Dan McGrath on
3/19/2010
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 10th Amendment a Mystery to Some State Legislators
Senator Julianne Ortman (R-Chanhassen) introduced a resolution calling on Minnesota’s entire congressional delegation to vote against what she says is an unconstitutional federal health care reform bill expected to come to a vote in the US House as soon as Sunday.
Ortman’s resolution also calls on the state attorney general to prepare to defend the rights of Minnesota as a state in the union.
In the end, the resolution didn’t make it out of the committee, but it made for some interesting interaction between committee members. A discussion of the US Constitution and the bearing of the 10th amendment on state authority by state lawmakers was revealing.
“No Fundamental Right in the Constitution to be Uninsured”
When health care writer and Constitutional teacher Dave Racer was testifying before the committee on the unconstitutional nature of the federal health care bill, he said, “Under the Federal Constitution, the federal government has no authority to require me to buy health insurance.”
Senator Berglin (D-Minneapolis) chimed in, saying, “Just because you say something is unconstitutional, doesn’t mean it is and it doesn’t mean that we should believe it is. The commerce clause of the US Constitution does give the Congress the ability to regulate interstate commerce. The sale of insurance is part of interstate commerce.”
Senator Ortman interjected “If Congress were going to regulate the health care industry, they can do that, but that’s not what this is. This is a mandate to me as an individual to buy health insurance and the commerce clause has never been used in that way.”
Berglin responded, “There is no fundamental right in the Constitution to be uninsured.”
“I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but I hope that you will read [the Constitution],” Ortman replied.
Senator Higgins Frustrated by the Constitution
Speaking about the 10 th amendment to the Constitution, which reserves powers not specifically enumerated for the federal government to the states and to the People, Senator Higgins (D-Minneapolis) said, “I get really frustrated with this tendency to parse every word in this little section of the Constitution.
“The people who wrote the Constitution never imagined that we would have air travel, so is the Air Force unconstitutional? Is our regulation of airports and airlines unconstitutional?” Higgins asked.
Article 1, Section 8 gives Congress the right to raise and support armies (the Air Force evolved from the US Army), maintain the Navy (the rest of our primary air power resides with the Navy) and to regulate commerce between the states.
“How about the interstate highway system? Is that unconstitutional? There’s nothing in here about a highway system,” she said, tapping a copy of the Constitution. “There’s something about post roads, whatever that is.”
Perhaps Senator Higgins could benefit from a refresher course in the Constitution. The power to create post roads is enumerated for the federal government by the Constitution in Article 1, Section 8. A post road is literally a road for the delivery of mail, or in other words, a federal highway system.
Higgins went on to cite more examples of federal programs she didn’t believe were enumerated in the Constitution. “The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Bureau of Mines, Small Business Administration… the Environmental Protection Agency all of these things have come to us as our world has evolved.
“I just find the whole thing just really frustrating,” she concluded.
Amendment to Reverse the Meaning of the Resolution
Senator Marty (D-Roseville) offered an amendment to Ortman’s resolution that would have reversed the intent. Marty’s amendment changed the resolution to one encouraging Minnesota’s congressional delegation to vote for Obamacare.
Marty said if the bill was unconstitutional, the Supreme Court would deal with it and suggested it should be supported, questions of constitutionality notwithstanding.
Marty’s amendment maneuver would have left Ortman’s name on a resolution bill calling on Congress to do the opposite of what she intended if the amendment was adopted. Given the makeup of the committee, the adoption of Senator Marty’s amendment was almost a certainty, despite objections from some senators about the disrespectful nature of that play.
Senator Ortman asked for a motion to be made to table her resolution, essentially killing it rather than have it amended to state the opposite of her intent with her name as chief author left on the bill.
A motion to table was made and adopted by the committee, ending Senator Ortman’s attempt to offer a resolution asserting Minnesota’s sovereign rights as a state in the United States of America.
See video of the committee meeting. Discussion of Sen. Ortman's resolution begins about 2 hours in.
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State Senator Ortman Takes a Stand on Obamacare |
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By Dan McGrath on
3/18/2010
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 Senator Julianne Ortman has introduced a resolution in the state Senate that calls on Minnesota’s congressional delegation to vote against the federal health care reform bill. The resolution also directs the state’s attorney general to file lawsuits defending Minnesota’s rights as a state, questioning the constitutionality of the federal health care bill.
“The legislation being considered by Congress is unconstitutional and threatens the rights of Minnesotan citizens,” Ortman said.
The resolution is being heard today in the Senate Health, Housing and Family Security Committee. Read the resolution here.
Governor Pawlenty has also weighed in, urging Minnesota's congressional delegation to vote against Obamacare. In a letter to the delegation, Pawlenty cited a number of common-sense reform measures, like malpractice reform, guaranteeing portability, tax equity for health insurance purchases among others, noting, "unfortunately the proposal now before the US House does not focus on these types of common sense reforms."
The final vote on Obamacare in the US House of Representatives may take place as soon as this weekend.
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Bonding Bill Reduced and Signed |
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By Dan McGrath on
3/15/2010
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 Still Dishing up the Pork
Governor Pawlenty used his line item veto power to strip funding for some projects in this year’s bonding bill, but left $686 million worth of borrowing in place. That’s a reduction of about 1/3 from the original price tag of about $1 billion.
DFL legislators, who were largely the catalyst for the bloated size of the bonding bill complained about the line-item vetoes. Senator Keith Langseth was quoted in the Pioneer Press as saying the governor “basically massacred the bill.”
Despite that kind of hyperbole, plenty of pork remains. While Rochester-area civic leaders complained that money to expand the Mayo Clinic, build a new civic center and to convert an old school building into the “Potter Center for the Arts” got axed, they did receive $4 million to expand an amateur volleyball facility.
Bemidji found all of their wish-list projects were vetoed, but St. Paul is the beneficiary of loads of borrowed money. The governor left in $11 million for new gorilla cages at Como Park Zoo and $16 million for a 1,100-seat concert hall at the Ordway.
The Minnesota Zoo wasn’t forgotten either. They will receive $21 million for design of a new zoo “master plan,” betterment and improvements to exhibits and a new visitor center.
While the governor did cut several needless appropriations from the bloated bonding bill, several others were left in tact. The Governor’s priorities, which were initially left out of the bonding bill he’d threatened to veto in its entirety, were included, at least in part in the final version. Governor Pawlenty wanted funding for an expansion at the Moose Lake sex offender treatment facility and to acquire land for Vermillion State Park. It seems obvious that some horse trading was done, which probably explains some of the projects of dubious priority that were spared Pawlenty’s veto axe.
Have the governor and legislature already forgotten that Minnesota can’t afford the payments on the debt we already have? The state is broke. The state is broke. The state is broke. This year, there is a budget shortfall of about $1 billion and next biennium, the deficit is projected to be $5 billion or more. Annual payments to service the current debt are in excess of $450 million, which exceeds the traditional limit of 3% of the general fund budget for the first time in over 30 years. The state’s credit card is maxed out, we can’t afford the current payments and our currently elected government is borrowing more money for gorilla cages and parks, when right now we don’t even know how we’re going to continue to fund basic government services.
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'Kill the Bill' Citizens Prepare to Rally Against Health Care Takeover |
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By Dan McGrath on
3/11/2010
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Crunch Time on Health Care Bill
Democrat leaders have promised to force the health care bill through Congress in a matter of days, suggesting use of the so-called “nuclear option.” That trick, technically called budget reconciliation would enable the Senate to pass a House-amended version of its own already-approved health care bill, bypassing debate and thus staving off any filibuster. There’s some doubt about using reconciliation in this manner, and it’s even possible that it won’t be utilized at all. The waters around the health care reform process in Washington are murky.
Senator Byrd has said, “Using reconciliation to ram through complicated, far-reaching legislation is an abuse of the budget process. The writers of the Budget Act, and I am one, never intended for its reconciliation’s expedited procedures to be used this way. These procedures were narrowly tailored for deficit reduction. They were never intended to be used to pass tax cuts, or to create new Federal regimes.”
Vice President Joe Biden once characterized the “nuclear option” as an “example of the arrogance of power,” and President Obama said such a move “would change the character of the Senate forever.” But that was 2005. Now that every major poll shows overwhelming opposition to the health care reform bill being put forth by the Democrat-controlled Congress, and Republicans have swept recent special elections chiefly because of the bill, Congressional leaders are willing to resort to tricks they themselves called “dirty” to get their way.
All 41 Republican senators have pledged to object to reconciliation being used in the manner proposed and Senate rules require 60 votes to waive the Byrd rule, which would squash attempts to use budget reconciliation for non-budget-related policy changes.
Reconciliation is just one dirty aspect of the process being used to force health care reform. The current senate bill has a House number: HR3590, but it isn’t the House health care bill. That’s HR3200. Bills that originate in the senate have a number beginning with “S,” such as S2431. There’s a reason for this anomaly. Bills that raise revenue must, according to the Constitution, originate in the House. Senator Reid wanted to pass his own version of health care reform in the senate, though, so he hijacked an unrelated bill that the House had already passed. It was HR3590, a 6-page bill to provide tax breaks to members of the military who were buying a house. Senator Reid offered a “delete all” amendment to the bill, stripping out all of the original language and intent of the house bill and inserted the over 2,500 pages of his tax-raising health care plan. Thus, he obtained a House bill number for his Senate-originated, revenue-raising health care bill by essentially ripping the cover off of a legal bill and stapling it on to an unconstitutional bill.
Pushers of the health care takeover are well aware that a supermajority of the American people are opposed to their plan, so they’ve been using every backroom dirty trick in the book and inventing some new ones to try to force this legislation against the will of the people. Payoffs, threats, smearing and ousting troublesome representatives are just some of the underhanded tactics involved. They know the votes they’ve coerced and cajoled won’t survive an Easter recess, when members of Congress will return to home districts and face their constituents, so they are desperate to pass the bill before the recess.
Now is the time to be heard. It may rain (40% chance), but we are all needed at the Capitol on Saturday. This is our last chance to remind our forgetful representatives that we don’t want the Reid/Pelosi/Obama health care plan. If it does rain, all the better if we still turn out for an hour in strong numbers. That would be a true demonstration to Minnesota’s congressional delegation of our unwavering conviction in opposing the health care takeover.
The Kill the Bill Rally is being organized by Minnesota Majority, the Tea Party Patriots of the Twin Cities, Citizens Council on Health Care and The Taxpayer’s League of Minnesota.
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Additional Resources:
UPDATE: Geritom Medical has donated a flat screen HD TV as a prize for best protest sign at the Kill the Bill Rally on Saturday. Step up your sign-making skills and get creative - there might be a new TV in it for you!
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Pawlenty Set to Sign, but Reduce $1 Billion Bonding Bill |
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By Dan McGrath on
3/10/2010
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 After an initial veto threat sent the House and Senate approved bonding bill into legislative limbo, the Governor met with Democrat leaders and began negotiations. A deal was eventually struck. The sticking point appeared to be funding the governor wants for expansions to the Moose Lake sex offender treatment facility. The legislature left that out of the bill they passed, prompting the governor’s veto threat.
The bill has been referred back to a conference committee, where, the governor’s demands are being met in part, in order to stave off a veto of the entire bill. Pawlenty will likely instead use the line item veto authority to trim the bonding bill down to around $750 million, leaving in his pet projects. $47.5 million has been approved for the Moose Lake facility. The Governor’s not yet said which spending items he will cut.
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House Government Operations Committee Passes Election Reform Bill |
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By Dan McGrath on
3/5/2010
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 Election Administration Bill is an Example of the Art of the Possible
HF3108 is an elections administration bill aimed at strengthening the integrity of Minnesota’s election system, mostly through “back end” administrative procedures. The bill will require new verifications to be performed on voter registration records, including checks against the Social Security Administration’s lists of deceased individuals and Department of Corrections data on felony convictions. It also strengthens and better defines a required check of voter records against Department of Public Safety data to ensure non-citizens are not allowed to register to vote.
The bill was approved by the House Government Operations Commitee on Thursday, March 4th.
The bill will also establish new reporting requirements, so that the legislature will be regularly informed of the state of the election system and anomalies that may arise. For example, when a new voter registers, a Postal Verification Card is mailed to the voter’s registered address. If the post card is returned as undeliverable, that voter will be flagged for challenge at the next election, but lists or even counts of returned PVC cards are not routinely revealed. HF3108 will require a biennial report of returned PVC cards to the legislature. This will provide insight into how many new registrations can not be verified.
The bill also cleans up some unusual data handling procedures that previously muddied the waters of the Statewide Voter Registration System, making it difficult to forensically determine exactly who voted in past elections.
Toward the ends of transparency and integrity, this bill represents a good first step. More reforms will still be needed (especially a photo ID requirement), but in the committee hearing in which the bill was approved, Representative Kiffmeyer, a Republican co-author of the bill observed that politics is the art of the possible. This bill’s chief author was Representative Winkler, a Democrat and it was the product of bipartisan meetings on election issues. This is what was possible at the time.
Though Several election officials attended the committee hearing, such as Ramsey County Elections Director, Joe Mansky and The Head of Elections for the secretary of state’s office, Michelle Desjardin, none testified for or against the bill. Minnesota Majority testified in favor of the bill.
The bill must still be approved by the whole House and by the Senate.
Click here to hear an audio recording of the House committee meeting, including testimony.
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Up Next:
Senator Gerlach has introduced an elections bill (SF2888) that would eliminate vouching and elimiate student IDs as acceptable forms of identification. It also creates provisions for provisional ballots so a person apearing at the polls without proper ID can still vote and have their vote counted if they provide proof of identity and residence within 10 days after the election.
Gerlach's bill will have a hearing in the Senate Government Operations and Oversight Comittee on Monday, March 8th at 3:00 PM, Room 123 State Capitol.
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