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Vote no on Voter ID amendment [UPDATED]
Published 11:09am Thursday, November 1, 2012 Updated 1:13pm Thursday, November 1, 2012Please vote no on the Voter ID Constitutional Amendment for the following reasons:
1. If approved, the costs of implementing this new system are estimated to be $50 million and ongoing operational costs would be more than $10 million for local governments. While a picture ID will be provided at “no cost” to the voter, someone also has to pick up the cost.
The bill will be paid by you, the tax payers of Minnesota.
2. Many elderly and disabled voters, especially those in nursing homes, will have difficulty obtaining a photo identification card, which will result in many disenfranchised voters.
3. It is unclear how absentee voters provide their identity when voting by mail. How will this affect the military and students?
4. There already are plenty of safeguards within our current system (such as the statewide Voter Registration System).
5. The problem in Minnesota has been felons voting without having their civil rights restored. Voter ID does nothing to prevent that problem.
6. Lutheran Social Services, the Minnesota Council of Churches, and the League of Women Voters – Minnesota have all come out against this Constitutional Amendment.
7. The only state that has enacted Voter ID through a constitutional amendment is Mississippi.
Check out http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/politics that describes many unanswered questions over this proposed amendment.
Prior to my retirement in 2007, I administered the election process for the City of Fergus Falls for over 20 years.
I understand how the system works, and our current system, with all its safeguards, works very well. In 2008, of 2.9 million ballots cast, 0.0009 percent led to convictions for voter fraud. We do not have a problem in Minnesota and we do not need this Constitutional Amendment.
JoEllen Thacker
Fergus Falls
