Secretary of State Mark Ritchie employing intimidation tactics in an attempt to suppress investigation of voter registration irregularities.

Yesterday afternoon Secretary of State Mark Ritchie called a press conference alleging that Jean Sanford, a volunteer with Minnesota Majority, had inappropriately contacted a voter representing herself as working with the Secretary of State. Secretary Ritchie further asserted that the volunteer from Minnesota Majority was engaged in voter intimidation tactics.

"The complaint is completely frivolous and Mark Ritchie knows it," said Jeff Davis, President of Minnesota Majority.  In a sworn affidavit given today by Jean Sanford, she contradicts the voter's complaint.  Sanford said that she never represented herself as being associated with the Secretary of State.

“Jean is a sweet little grandma who is passionate about transparency in elections,” said Davis, “The voter’s own sworn statement indicates that he found Mrs. Sanford to be very kind. I can’t imagine how anyone could be intimidated by this lady.” Minnesota Majority believes that the voter, above all else, was concerned by the amount of information that is maintained on Minnesota’s public voter registration records.

"Mark Ritchie's actions are simply a ruse to deflect attention away from the real issue at hand – the obvious problems with Minnesota’s voter registration records," said Davis.  Minnesota Majority has been investigating apparent irregularities in the Secretary of State’s voter registration records for several days and has uncovered a large number of anomalies including: 

• POTENTIAL DUPLICATE VOTER REGISTRATION RECORDS: A total of 16,578 exact voter registration record matches using the criteria of first name, middle name, last name and birth year. When phone number is used instead of middle name as a matching criterion, there are a total of 488 matching records.
• VACANT AND NON-DELIVERABLE ADDRESSES: A total of 29,006 voters have a voter registration address which is flagged as being “vacant” by the United States Postal Service. A total of 62,822 voters list an address which is flagged as being “non-deliverable” by the Postal Service.
• DEFICIENT VOTER REGISTRATIONS DUE TO MISSING BIRTH YEAR: There are a total of 1,695 voter registrations with registration dates after August 1, 1983 when birth date was required by law.
• VOTER REGISTERING BEFORE THE AGE OF 18: Over 1,800 records have a voter registration date and a birth year that suggests the voter registered before the age of 18 years of age (some before they were born).
• VOTERS POTENTIALLY CASTING MORE THAN ONE BALLOT IN A SINGLE ELECTION: 76 cases in which it appears that a single voter may have cast more than one ballot, with thousands of additional records which merit additional review.

Volunteers have been researching these apparent discrepancies by taking photographs of vacant lots at addresses listed on voter registrations and telephoning individuals who appear to have duplicate voter registration records.  When contacting people by phone, volunteers give people their name, identify themselves as being with Minnesota Majority and ask the individual to verify their address.

Minnesota Majority suspects that Secretary of State Ritchie may be trying to use the power of his office to suppress further investigation. "The citizens of Minnesota should be very concerned when a public official exploits the power of his office to attack a private citizen who is simply trying to ask questions," said Davis.  "We are not deterred by Secretary of State Ritchie’s tactics. We have not done anything wrong. No one should be intimidated by our research, unless of course an individual was contemplating committing voter fraud." 

Minnesota Majority's attorney has submitted a letter to Mr. Ritchie asking him to immediately present all evidence pertaining to the false allegations.  Legal counsel is also exploring what, if any, improprieties may have been committed by Mr. Ritchie or members of his office in the process of bringing this complaint.

While nearly every Twin Cities media outlet was happy to report on Ritchie's false allegations on Wednesday, only a few media outlets attended today's press conference to get Minnesota Majority's side of the story (kudos to the Star Tribune for being one of the few that actually published a story). 

TAKE ACTION:  Contact Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and tell him what you think about his actions.  Write a letter to the editor and let them know what you think about the media's obvious bias in covering this story.