Yesterday was the last day to register before the general election in Minnesota. Citizens may register and vote on election day, but the process is easier when the voter is already on the rolls.
Voter registration is up in Mankato and St. Peter, according to the Mankato Free Press. The paper reports in Voter registration mostly heavy:
County auditors never felt so loved.
Across the area — and the state — most auditors are getting a heavy influx of people who are pre-registering to vote Nov. 4.
“The numbers are way up,” said Bridgette Kennedy, auditor-treasurer in Nicollet County.
Her office already had more than 600 new registrations and many more were coming in Tuesday, the last day to pre-register.
In Blue Earth County, Elections Director Patty O’Connor didn’t have exact numbers of new registers, but she knows the numbers are way up.
Already there are about 39,000 existing and new voters registered in the county. In the last presidential election in 2004, there were 33,300 registered voters on Election Day.
“They’re up quite a bit. We’re seeing a lot of the 18- to 25-year olds. A lot are coming from the college.”
Voting via absentee ballot is also hitting record marks:
Several area counties also sent out record numbers of absentee ballots. Nicollet County mailed 630 of them.
Le Sueur County Auditor Ron Germscheid said they have so far sent out about 600 absentee ballots.
O’Connor’s office sent out 1,200 absentee ballots so far and is expecting steady business the next few weeks.
Will it matter? The paper says:
While much of the interest is apparently being driven by the presidential election, the influx of new voters could play a role in other contests, particularly in areas where the races are considered close.
In the 1st District, where Democrat Tim Walz faces Republican challenger Brian Davis, 11,000 new voters registered as of a week ago.
Which way will the new voters go? Statewide, Democratic areas have shown greater growth in registration numbers. The Strib's article noted:
New registrations are also high in solidly Democratic-voting college towns such as Mankato, where Kerry won by more than 12 points, and Northfield, which he carried won by 36 percentage points. In Mankato, 71 percent of the new registrations were among people between the ages of 18 and 25. In Northfield, that figure was 26 percent, the newspaper analysis found. . . .
. . .The new registrations in Minnesota could have an impact on closely contested congressional races as well. In southern Minnesota's First District, for example, Democrat Tim Walz defeated Republican incumbent Gil Gutknecht by 15,000 votes in 2006. In that district, 11,000 new voters have registered this year. . .
We're not sure how close the race is between Walz and Davis, with even Davis's polling last month showing Walz with an 18 percentage point lead, but the registration number is intriguing.
The New Ulm Journal looks at Monday night's debate in 1st District candidates Walz, Davis spar on many issues.
Rachel Bartholomay writes the Winona Daily News to say Walz actually represents our interests:
I am not usually a fan of Rep. Tim Walz, but I want to publicly thank him for having the integrity to represent the wishes of his constituents and to vote twice against the bailout of Wall Street.
The disastrous bill bails out Wall Street at the expense of Main Street. It puts taxpayer funds at risk, while freeing up banks to continue making bad loans. It maintains and further subsidizes a system of flawed practices that caused the original problem. It will greatly worsen the long-term effects, and perhaps even the short-terms ones.It is also immoral beyond measure for one generation to transfer its expenses onto the backs of another, but that is exactly what this bill does. It is American children and grandchildren who will have to pay the tax bill to balance the accounts on Wall Street’s greed and incompetence. It is the next generation who will be saddled with the consequences of the current generation’s unwillingness to face its own music.
Sadly, our Congress, which is supposed to represent the interests of the American people, has, again, acquiesced to the pressures of special interests. It is the wealthy, the powerful, and the international financial community that they, Democrats and Republicans alike, chose to represent over the Americans on Main Street.
The residents of Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District are fortunate to have a representative who actually represents the hardworking citizens in his district.
In national news, the New York Times reports Poll Says McCain Hurts His Bid by Using Attacks. Nugget:
The top reasons cited by those who said they thought less of Mr. McCain were his recent attacks and his choice of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate.
Fascinating stuff. Read the whole analysis.
KEYC-TV asks Credit Derivatives: Key to the Economic Crisis? Congressman Walz will be in Washington today for a House Ag Committee hearing about credit derivatives.
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