Minnesota Majority Joined by Several Candidates for Governor to Sign Letter to Attorney General Lori Swanson

In the wake of ACORN scandals erupting across the nation, several Minnesota gubernatorial candidates joined Minnesota Majority today in calling on Attorney General Lori Swanson to investigate the embattled organization’s Minnesota activities.  

Jeff Davis, president of Minnesota Majority cited numerous glaring discrepancies in election records, such as evidence suggesting dead people and convicted felons voted in the 2008 general election as well as voters registered with non-deliverable mailing addresses and a high volume of rejected voter registration postal verification post cards.

 

Ramsey County is investigating over 100 cases of illegal voter registration by felons and has secured 5 convictions, but there’s more to it than that, explained Davis. “We looked at the voter histories for the five felons and found that the records indicate at least two of them voted in 2008. This looks like a situation where illegal voter registrations led to illegal votes.” A comparison of Bureau of Criminal Apprehension records and voter history files conducted by Minnesota Majority produced a list of over 2,800 felons who may have illegally voted in 2008. 

ACORN has claimed credit for registering about 43,000 voters in the lead up to the 2008 election in Minnesota, which they say represents about 75% of new registrations. Nationally, ACORN’s rate of invalid registrations has been reported to be nearly a third of all registrations submitted by the group. “There are investigations and prosecutions of ACORN workers going on all over the country,” said Davis, “In light of the alarming number of significant discrepancies in our election records, ACORN’s history of legal problems their extraordinary efforts in Minnesota’s 2008 election I believe an investigation into ACORN’s activities in Minnesota is warranted.”

Gubernatorial candidates from both sides of the aisle joined Minnesota Majority’s call for investigation. Representative Tom Emmer, former House Minority Leader Marty Seifert, former state auditor Pat Anderson, Representative Paul Kohls, Bill Haas, and DFL candidate Peter Roess signed the letter to Lori Swanson at a press conference this morning. Senator David Haan, Senator Mike Jungbauer and Felix Montez were unable to attend but also signed the letter.