• POTENTIAL DUPLICATE VOTER REGISTRATION RECORDS: We found 261,000 records that have an exact duplicate match on the criteria of first name, last name and birth year. When middle names are included as a matching criterion, there are a total of 16,578 matched records. We found 488 registrations that matched on first and last names, year of birth and phone numbers.
• VACANT AND NON-DELIVERABLE ADDRESSES: A total of 29,006 voters have a voter registration address that is listed as “vacant” by the United States Postal Service. 2,977 of these vacant addresses are multi-unit housing, such as apartments. A total of 62,822 voters list an address that the post office indicates is “non-deliverable.” Our ongoing investigation into these suspect addresses has revealed that many of them simply do not exist. Photos showing vacant and non-existent addresses appearing on Minnesota voter roles have been presented to the media.
• DEFICIENT VOTER REGISTRATIONS DUE TO MISSING BIRTH YEAR: Minnesota Statute 201.071 requires voter registrations recorded after August 1, 1983 to include a birth year. A total of 1,695 voter registrations with registration dates after August 1, 1983 have missing birth years. By law, these voters should not be eligible to vote until they provide this correct identifying information.
• POTENTIAL DECEASED VOTERS: 3,689 voters in just Hennepin and Anoka Counties reported as deceased by the Social Security Administration remain on the voter rolls. According to the secretary of state’s office, these deceased voters will not be removed from the rolls unless they fail to vote in two consecutive elections. Because Minnesota doesn’t require photo ID to vote, anyone could walk into the polls on Election Day and claim to be one of these deceased voters to obtain a fraudulent ballot. As long as the deceased person continues to cast ballots, this can go on, unchecked in perpetuity.
• SUSPECT BIRTH YEARS: Voter registrations completed before 1983 didn’t require a date of birth, which is astonishing enough in its own right, being that there is a minimum age requirement of 18 to vote. Registrations completed after 1983 require a date of birth, but we found 1,695 such registrations on the rolls missing this information, and 2,106 voters who are over 100 (924 over 108 years old and 78 over 118 years old).
• VOTERS THAT MAY HAVE CAST MORE THAN ONE BALLOT IN A SINGLE ELECTION: We identified 13,340 potential cases of a single voter casting more than one ballot in past elections. We reduced that list to 100 records as a test sample for closer scrutiny and discovered a strong correlation which compelled us to forward these records to the 30 county attorneys in which these voters are registered. Individuals who knowingly cast multiple ballots could be found guilty of a felony under Minnesota Statute 204C.14.

While there may be rational explanations for many of these apparent inconsistencies, no one appears to be investigating these situations to make this determination. So far, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie appears to be dismissive of these findings.

Minnesota Majority’s findings are based upon a June 30, 2008 version of the voter file. There have been at least an additional 100,000 new registrations added to the file since that time. Almost half of these new registrations were submitted by ACORN, the organization which is under investigation for voter registration irregularities and improprieties in at least 13 states.

Secretary of State Mark Ritchie tried to assure Minnesota voters that his administration makes use of a sophisticated address validation process that involves mailing a postcard to new registrants.  But since he has taken office, there have been 4,051 new registrations or re-registrations that the Postal Service indicates have non-deliverable addresses.

Minnesota Majority has repeatedly urged the Secretary of State run a comprehensive crosscheck on the entire voter file prior to the November election, using records from the United States Postal Service, the Department of Public Safety and the Social Security Administration. Inconsistent records should be flagged so that local election judges can be notified of voters that should be screened. There are nearly 1,700 voters who, by law, should not be allowed to vote until they have updated their voter registration records providing missing dates of birth.  There are potentially thousands of additional deficient voter registrations due to invalid addresses or potential duplicate voter registrations. These voters should be required to verify their eligibility before casting a ballot this November.

There’s no more important job to be done by the Secretary of State than to ensure the integrity of our election process. There isn’t much time left until the election, but the simple steps we have recommended to Secretary of State Mark Ritchie could easily be implemented before the 2008 general election. Minnesota Majority has urged Secretary Ritchie to take immediate action so that voters will not call into question the integrity of our election process after the fact.

As yet, Secretary of State Ritchie has not offered any plan of action to ensure that the potential problems we have discovered do not taint this year's election.

TAKE ACTION: Contact Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and ask him to complete a comprehensive verification of Minnesota's voter file prior to this year's election. 

Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie held a press conference at the Capitol today to attempt to answer some of the questions raised by Minnesota Majority about the integrity of the voter registration file. He was joined by several county election officials who stood united in the message that Minnesota’s election system is unblemished.

While some of the questions raised by Minnesota Majority’s research were addressed, not all were adequately answered by the Secretary of State. He did indicate that new procedures are being put in place to better safeguard the integrity of the election system.

Election officials from several counties claimed that they have had few or no issues with questionable registrations. In case of a suspect registration, election officials are supposed to refer the registration to the county attorneys for investigation. Ramsey County has referred a total of 16 suspect registrations in recent months. The other county officials claimed either 1 such referral, or none.

It was suggested that some of the suspect voter registrations may have come from ACORN.

On the large number of voters found in the system who were over 100 years of age, Ritchie explained that before 1984, birth dates weren’t required to register to vote and that an arbitrary birth date was assigned to any voters without one listed in the records. He says the year chosen was 1900.

Questions remain unanswered about the large number of registrations claiming either unoccupied or nonexistent addresses. Ritchie alluded to the possibility that some of this could be explained by homelessness, or by new developments not showing up in the United States Postal Service yet.

Minnesota Majority’s analysis of the data is ongoing.

Minnesota Majority delivered a letter to Secretary of State Mark Ritchie today, asking him to immediately respond to the findings of an analysis of the voter file recently completed by the organization. The analysis identified many inconsistent and suspicious records within the file, including thousands of new registrants that voted in past elections, thousands of voters over 100 years of age and thousands of voters residing at vacant addresses.

The findings of Minnesota Majority’s research raise serious concerns about the integrity of Minnesota’s voter file. While there may be plausible explanations for some or all of the apparent inconsistencies, these findings should warrant a complete and comprehensive verification of voter records.

This comes at a time when there are voter registration problems surfacing across the nation. Last week U.S. District Judge George C. Smith ruled that Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner must perform verification required by the Help America Vote Act. That includes matching new registrants' information against information in databases maintained by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles or the Social Security Administration.

A copy of the letter to Secretary of State Mark Ritchie together with the findings of the analysis project are available here.

It was a low turn out at the primary election this year. Early estimates indicated 15% or lower overall turnout, but there were some pretty interesting races.

Override Sixer, Neil Peterson was shut out of the general election by GOP Endorsed candidate Jan Schneider in 41B (Edina).

On the flip side, unendorsed incumbent Jim Abeler (another sixer) came out on top against political newcomer Don Huizenga by a comfortable margin in 48B (Anoka). There was no endorsed Republican at all in that race.

Speaker of the House Margaret Kelliher takes Abeler’s win as a sign that suburban voters don’t oppose a higher gas tax, and went on to push the envelope saying, "It tells us when we can lay out a case for why we need a constitutionally dedicated gas tax ... the public is going to respond to that."

Incumbent DFLer Willie Dominguez was upset by primary challenger Bobby Joe Champion in 58B (Minneapolis). You can’t beat that name.

House District 7B had five candidates vying for the DFL spot. Roger Reinert came out on top of the heap, but it was a squeaker. Marshall Sternsen trailed by just 28 votes.

John Kappler defeated challenger Mady Reiter for the GOP spot in 53A (Anoka). Reiter ran a strong campaign but still came in behind Kappler, 1103-638.

Endorsed Republican candidate Tom Effertz was upset by challenger Julie Johnson in a tight race in 54B (Shoreview area).

Conservative Maplewood mayor Diana Longrie made a run for the DFL ballot position in 55A, but came in second to Leon Lille in the three-way Democrat primary race.

Eccentric liberal DFLer Phyllis Kahn faced a strong challenge for her ballot position from Joel Rainville, but managed to pull out a commanding win in 59B (Minneapolis).

In St. Paul, there were two GOP primary races. Mark Roosevelt defeated Lucky Rosenbloom in 66B and Meg Ferber came out ahead of Sharon Anderson in 64A.

Former candidate for Minnesota’s Attorney General, Jeff Johnson handily secured a ballot spot in Hennepin County’s 7th Commissioner District, taking 56% of the vote. He’ll face runner up Joan Molenaar (26%) in the general election. Johnson's strong showing in the primary bodes well for his general election battle.

Endorsed Republican Mark Olson was defeated by Allison Krueger, a candidate who promised not to campaign if she wasn’t endorsed. Despite not campaigning, an intense effort by the Senate Republican Caucus and other activists concerned about Olson’s viability due to some family issues ushered Krueger into the Republican slot on the ballot in Senate District 16.

The Supreme Court races have boiled down to Tim Tinglestad vs. Paul Anderson for the 3rd seat and Lorie Gildea vs. Deborah Hedlund for the 4th.

You can view all the primary election results online at the Secretary of State’s website.

Primary Elections are on Tuesday September 9^th. Polls open at 7:00 Am and close at 8:00 PM.

Primary elections are unfortunately shunned by the majority of the electorate, with only about 25% of eligible voters getting out to vote. This year’s primary features some interesting races, though. Most notably are probably the couple primary battles that erupted in the aftermath of the so-called "override six." Six Republican legislators broke ranks and voted with House Democrats to override the governor’s veto of a massive $6.6 billion tax hike. Several lost their party’s endorsement.

In District 48B, Jim Abeler was not endorsed by his party. Neither was challenger Don Huizenga, with delegates unable to reach the 60% threshold one way or the other, they voted for no endorsement. This leaves Abeler to defend his override vote against Huizenga in the primary.

The Edina area produced two Republican lawmakers who sided with Democrats on the transportation bill veto override. Ron Erhardt of District 41A who was denied endorsement in favor of Keith Downey. Erhardt will run as an independent, dodging a primary challenge. Neil Peterson in 41B also lost his party’s endorsement over the override but is running in the primary against endorsed candidate Jan Schneider.

Eccentric ultra-liberal Phyllis Kahn, the frequent butt of talk radio jokes faces a primary challenge in 59B. The 18 term legislator, noted for seeking funds for street lighting that "preserves the natural night environment," pushing an astroturf study and perennially introduceing a bill to lower the voting age to 16 will face politically well-connected Joel Rainville.

First term liberal legislator Willie Dominguez faces a challenge from attorney Bobby Joe Champion in 58B.

Senator Norm Coleman and DFL endorsed Senate candidate Al Franken both have primaries to contend with, but Coleman’s lone primary opponent is fugitive dentist turned sex-criminal and accused arsonist Jack Shepard who now resides in Italy. Franken makes some in his party nervous and has five challengers for the DFL ballot slot. Priscilla Lord Faris began running a strong campaign, but seems to have dropped off.

Of course, other important primary contests are going to unfold all across the state. Even if the other races don’t have as much sizzle, they are still just as important. Make sure you make it to the polls and support the conservative candidates in your district’s primary. We can’t vote for the best candidates in November if they don’t make it onto the ballot on Tuesday.

Take Action: Check the Poll Finder to learn where you vote in your precinct and don’t forget to get out and cast your ballot.

Join Minnesota Majority at the Conservative Issues Fair on Saturday, September 20 at the Bloomington Airport Hilton (near the Mall of America) from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Stop by our booth and meet talk radio host Dan Conry. Pick-up free newsletters, yard signs and bumper stickers. We’ll also have the popular GlobalClimateScam.com light bulb T-shirts for sale (discounted from web site prices).

The event features speakers including conservative talk host, Jason Lewis, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (6th District), Barb Davis White (5th Congressional District candidate), Congressman John Kline (2nd District) and Ed Matthews (4th Congressional District candidate). Breakfast with Michele Bachmann is served from 7:00 – 9:00 for those who want to arrive early and Lunch with Barb Davis White runs from 10:00 – Noon.

Numerous conservative organizations will be in attendance, including Center for Parental Responsibility, Citizens Council on Health Care, the College Republicans, Minnesota Federation of Republican Women, Minnesotans Seeking Immigration Reform, Taxpayer’s League of Minnesota, TCRA (the organizaers) and many others. This is a fantastic opportunity to meet the people behind all of these great conservative organizations, pick up information and other materials and discuss the issues of the day. If you are a conservative who has been looking for a way to get more involved, this is the ultimate event at which to do so. Whatever your top issues are, this event should have you covered and Leadership Institute will be conducting a workshop for activists throughout the day.

Admission is just $5.00. Hope to see you at the Fair!

A new poll conducted by MPR and the Humphrey Institute finds that an overwhelming majority of Minnesotans oppose the new sales tax increase constitutional amendment that will be on the ballot this November. The poll surveyed people likely to vote in the 2008 election and found 72% opposed to the amendment, which would increase the state’s sales tax by 3/8% to fund "the arts and outdoors." Just 22% support the measure, with 6% undecided.

The proposed constitutional amendment is the final touch on a legislative session that was characterized by tax hikes, borrowing and budget expansion. The measure will require approval by the voters this fall. Based on the results of the MPR/Humphrey Institute survey, passage doesn’t appear likely at this point, but there is a concerted effort underway to promote the amendment. 200 environmental and arts organizations are pushing the tax hike with their "Vote Yes" campaign which launched in May.

The ballot question reads "Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to provide funding beginning July 1, 2009, to restore, preserve, and enhance the state's fish and wildlife habitat and other natural resources; to protect the state's drinking water sources; to protect and restore the state's lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands and groundwater; to support the state's parks and trails; and to support the arts and cultural heritage of the state by increasing the sales and use tax rate by three-eighths of one percent on taxable sales until the year 2034?"

Details on the proposed use of revenues collected by the new tax can be found in the bill (HF2285) but the basic breakdown is (at minimums) 25% of the new revenue is dedicated to a natural heritage fund, 25% to a clean water fund, 15% to a parks and trails fund, 15% to a "sustainable drinking water" fund and 10% would go to an arts and cultural heritage fund. The remaining pot would get divvied up by the whims of the legislature.

The 200 organizations pushing for the amendment’s passage this fall are a laundry list of arts and environmental groups with their hands out. They are seeking constitutionally dedicated funding streams on the backs of already overburdened Minnesota taxpayers. 72% reject the notion, saying these organizations and services should be paid from existing revenues and individuals.

Former senator Rod Grams summarized the Vote Yes coalition, saying, "They want to tack on a new tax, by a group of special interests that want to pick the pockets of Minnesota taxpayers, to create a slush fund to enable them to spend monies on their pet projects,"

Take Action: Use our letter to the editor tool to send your opinion on the tax hike to your local newspaper.

Prices at the pump remain at record highs and Minnesota Majority has joined the chorus of demands for Congress to act. With soaring fuel prices and increasing demand, it’s well past time Congress listens to the American people and begins to dismantle the road blocks Congress itself put in place to obstruct access to our own abundant natural resources.  Despite the rhetoric coming from our elected officials about easing the pain at the pump, energy independence and taking the strain off of family budgets, our congressional leaders have done nothing to reverse the problems created largely by congressional policy.

Lately it seems that our representatives in Washington are all political spin versus taking meaningful action. Excuses and blame are elevated to a high art form in modern beltway politics. Some of the myths perpetrated by congressional leaders by way of defending their grossly irresponsible inaction on American energy issues have made their way into the mainstream consciousness.  One of the biggest myths about expanding access to American oil reserves is that it wouldn’t make any noticeable difference. Opponents of abundant American energy claim that even if ANWR and the outer continental shelf were opened up for drilling, the oil wouldn’t enter the market for ten or more years and the effect on fuel prices would be negligible or nonexistent.

Another common meme is that oil investors speculating on future scarcity are the driving force behind high prices. These two notions cannot harmoniously coexist. If speculation on future scarcity is driving up the price of oil, how can it be that future abundance wouldn’t bring prices down? The truth of the matter is that oil speculators are cashing in on high prices, but they can only do so because supply is artificially limited by congressional policy. It’s the restrictions on accessing domestic oil that creates the scarcity. Immediately following the president’s announcement that he was lifting the executive ban on offshore drilling, gas prices began to drop, because it became that much more likely that supply would be increased. The closer we get to tapping more of our own resources, the more the price will fall, before a drill bit even touches the ground in expanded access sites.

Defenders of do-nothing policy are also fond of parroting the notion that oil companies aren’t using the leases they already have. Supposedly, after paying hundreds of millions of dollars in rent, and investing in equipment and exploration, Shell is sitting on thousands of idle acres of leased land where they could be producing oil. Again, it’s a game of deflecting blame and the easy target is big bad oil companies. This is simply not true. And with oil prices at an all time high, it doesn’t make sense, either. If Shell could get all this supposedly untapped oil out to market, they’d stand to make even bigger profits than they already are. Buy low. Sell high. Simple market economics dispels this myth, but some additional facts may bring more clarity. The Interior Department’s Mineral Management Service reports that there are 7,457 active leases for oil drilling. Of those, 1,877 are classified as producing. That doesn’t mean oil isn’t flowing out of the remaining 5,580, or that drilling and exploration isn’t underway at those sites. To be deemed producing, a site must be producing 130,000 barrels of oil per day. It takes time to ramp an operation up to that capacity, and the process is underway on all leased sites with known deposits of oil.

The argument that lifting the drilling ban wouldn’t have any effect for a decade is false, but even were it true, it’s a ridiculous, short-sighted argument. Using their own premise, if we’d lifted the ban ten years ago, we’d have that oil today and wouldn’t be in such a dire energy crunch now and ten years from now, we’ll still need oil.

A couple incidents that occurred decades ago have lived long in the American psyche. One is the 1979 Three-Mile Island nuclear reactor partial core melt-down. That incident unfortunately happened just a few weeks after the release of The China Syndrome, a disaster movie about a nuclear power plant melting down. This helped usher in a ban on new nuclear power plants. A new one hasn’t been constructed in the US since while France and the rest of the world leap ahead of us in nuclear technology. The other incident was an oil spill caused by an offshore rig back in 1969.

When offshore oil rigs were new technology, operators didn’t have a grasp on the environmental hazards posed by bringing up oil from beneath the ocean floor. An accidental spill resulted in 80,000 barrels of oil washing up on the coast of Santa Barbara. Everyone has seen the footage – probably more than once. That was just about forty years ago, and thanks to advances in technology and safety protocols, such a disaster hasn’t happened since. Regardless, the myth persists that offshore drilling is environmentally destructive. The truth is modern oil rigs are equipped with automatic shut-off valves beneath the ocean floor. Should an accident or damage to the rig occur, the oil in the well is safely capped off so virtually none escapes into the seas. There are backup protocols as well and oil companies are required to constantly rehearse and demonstrate competence in containing any possible oil spill.

These are some of the myths being used as excuses to do nothing that would truly increase domestic oil supplies. There is a strong element in our society and in our government that wants gasoline to be prohibitively expensive. They envision a carbon-free solar and wind powered utopia of extreme conservation among the masses. Affordable, abundant energy such as is needed to power our homes and our economy run counter to their vision for us. Excuses are useless. Americans need leaders who will act, and act in the best interests of their constituents. The American economy is the most productive in the world and the engine of that economy needs fuel. Someday we may be powering our factories and automobiles with hydrogen or another kind of energy, but the truth is right now, we need petroleum. We have it. It’s time for Congress to let us go get it.

Take Action. Tell Congress to cut the excuses and increase domestic oil production by signing the ActNowOnEnergy.com petition and sending a direct message to your elected officials.