Once upon a time--2008 in fact--MinnPost reported in Minnesota Election Protection Team reporting 200-plus requests for help:
The Election Protection Team, an offshoot of a national program, is sponsored locally by a coalition that includes Common Cause, the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and TakeAction Minnesota.
Now the name appears to have been appropriated by Christian nationalist Dale Witherington, who last drew national attention for his approval of the notion of lynching Minnesota Fifth District Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
In a similar fashion, Minnesota Republican Secretary of State candidate Kim Crockett is staking a claim to the phrase "common sense," we read in the Rochester Post Bulletin article, 'I think we're common-sense people': Kim Crockett, conservative candidates campaign at Pine Island rally. Dené K. Dryden reports:
. . .A crowd of about 90 people gathered just outside Pine Island Wednesday evening to hear from GOP-endorsed secretary of state candidate Kim Crockett and other conservative candidates for office during a Choose Freedom Rally sponsored by Minnesota Patriots.
The event included 23 candidates for state and local office, such as Crockett, Rep. Steve Drazkowski, GOP contenders for House Districts 20A, 20B and 25B and Rochester mayoral candidate Brit Noser. . . .
"I've spent a good part of the year with all of you across the state. I don't think we're blue. I think we're at least purple. I think we're common-sense people, and I think they've overreached," Crockett said, referencing Gov. Tim Walz and her opponent, incumbent DFL Secretary of State Steve Simon. . . .
During her time on the stage, Crockett referenced claims that she is an election denier.
"Did you just hear any disinformation? Do I sound like an election denier?" she asked the crowd. "No, I sound like an American who's saying that I don't think this is right."
While Crockett called fraud a "feature, not a bug" of mail-in voting, she did not cite any specific examples of fraud found in Minnesota's 2020 election.
"By the way, we have 46 days of voting. It starts Friday. Forty-six days to do what?" Crockett asked. Several attendees answered, "Cheat."
Crockett also recently received scrutiny when in she stated on a podcast in 2018 that she is "not willing to get up in the morning and go work for people who aren’t from here," per reporting from the Sahan Journal . Immigration was a largely unspoken through line in other speakers' thoughts on election laws. After Crockett spoke, emcee and pastor Dale Witherington asked the crowd to imagine flying to Iran, then China, then North Korea to vote in their elections, an apparent stab at immigrant Minnesotans.
"Do you understand that the absolute insanity of anybody who thinks we're suppressing votes," he said, "when all we're doing is protecting votes? We're protecting the rights of the citizens of the United States of America. It is a country, and it's ours."
We hope Witherington suffered jet lag in coming up with that Jensenesque analogy.
And we're sad Crockett didn't bother to bring up the charges of antisemitism that dog her use of such imagery at the state Republican endorsing convention.
As for analysis of Crockett's claim for being "common sense," we recommend Deena Winter's inventory in the Minnesota Reformer article, Republican secretary of state candidate Kim Crockett can’t seem to get her facts straight. Winter reports in part:
. . . Max Hailperin, a retired computer scientist who consults on election systems, has been tracking Crockett’s false claims, and said she has incorrectly ascribed numerous duties to the office.
“Anything she doesn’t like, she ascribes to the secretary of state,” Hailperin said. “If you’re running for the office, it would be good to know what they do.”
She told a Senate committee the secretary of state mailed her a ballot, but that’s impossible. Cities and counties mail ballots, not the secretary of state.
Crockett also told a podcast host that military ballots were delivered to the secretary of state’s office. That’s false: They go back to the county that sent them. She said she wasn’t sure whether military ballots are counted by counties or the state. Ballots aren’t counted by the state.
Hailperin was struck by how many times Crockett said in that interview she didn’t know, was unsure, she’d have to check or “good question” — although at least she admitted uncertainty.
“It’s a bigger problem when she very confidently states things that are false,” he said.
She touts as credentials years of experience working as an Election Day lawyer for the Republican Party.
“I think if I were the Republican Party, I might ask for my money back,” Hailperin joked.
Crockett has repeatedly said the state’s residency requirement for elections is 20 days in a precinct, which is also false.
People must live in the state for 20 days before the election, but if they move within the state, they can vote in their new precinct, according to Paul Linnell, deputy state elections director. Linnell said election judges are trained on this point.
Crockett has encouraged thousands of Republicans to volunteer to be election judges this year, but she hasn’t served as one herself, which means she probably knows less about elections than they do, Hailperin said.
Crockett has said postmarks are required on absentee ballot envelopes. That’s false. They’re not.
On another podcast, Crockett said when the state was under Democratic control, absentee balloting was expanded from “a week or two” of early voting to 46 days. That’s false.
The absentee voting period was changed in 2010, when Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed a law expanding it from 30 to 46 days. That was part of a nationwide initiative by the U.S. Department of Defense, because 30 days was not enough time for ballots to go out and be returned by deployed service members.
The extension was applied to all people so there would be one set of rules for all voters, according to Cassondra Knudson, press secretary for the Office of Secretary of State.
In the same interview, Crockett said in the 1970s, under Secretary of State Joan Growe, “We got rid of simple, common-sense things like voter ID.” That’s false.
Minnesota has never required identification to vote.
Crockett has also implied that Minnesota used to require voter registration prior to Election Day, but Hailperin said there was no statewide voter registration requirement until 1973, when a law was passed allowing registration through Election Day.
“You could just walk into a polling place and say ‘I swear I’m Max and I wanna vote,’” Hailperin said.
Prior to passage of the 1973 law, some cities required registration, but the law grandfathered in a few rural counties that didn’t require registration for a few more years.
Crockett also frequently complains about “the widespread use of drop boxes in DFL-strongholds” like Minneapolis, as she wrote last year. Not true. Minneapolis election administrator Jeff Narabrook said the city has never had unstaffed ballot drop boxes, but has had staffed dropoff sites.
“She repeatedly talks about the golden age when everyone needed to register in advance, and there never was any such age,” Hailperin said. “The status quo dates to before she was voting. Her golden age thing is striking.” . . .
In light of these facts, we're not comfortable accepting Crockett's notion of "common sense." There's more in the article at the Reformer.
Who are the Minnesota Patriots?
As for the sponsors of the event, Dryden reported:
. . .The rally was held on Sara Bertschinger's property. Bertschinger said she helps with communications for Minnesota Patriots, a recently formed group that she described as "a grassroots group of individuals who get together and just try to figure out how we can be a part of the solution."
Bertschinger said a core group of 10 to 15 people have been coordinating Minnesota Patriots' events and outreach. She and the others weren't involved in political organizing at this level before 2020.
"We just started trying to learn and grow," she said. "It's just a lot of civic learning and trying to share the information with others so that people can be engaged. It's not necessarily about being about partisanship as much as it is about, OK, just learn, grow, do your own research and come up with your own opinions and discuss them." . . .
An article published on April 13 in the Post Bulletin, Republican tide rises across rural Minnesota, tells a somewhat more detailed back story. Brian Todd reported:
Like many conservatives who have gotten active over the past few years, [Kimberly Timm 's] upset over the mask mandates in schools.
She attended an event sponsored by the MN Patriots, a grassroots group that grew out of Cannon Falls and Goodhue, where the speaker talked about liberals taking over school boards. That talk served as a catalyst to push Timm toward the right, to where she'd begun to feel like she belonged.
. . . Those fed up conservatives are finding one another and forming groups. Timm, who open enrolls her children at Pine Island Public Schools, helped found a group called Pine Island Parents Strong in response to mask mandates.
And in Goodhue, Pam Altendorf began meeting with a few friends then joining with a similar group from Cannon Falls to form MN Patriots. . . .
The group has an email list of 300 people, and can regularly draw 50-100 people for a meeting when a speaker is brought in to talk about conservative issues. In September, the group hosted Dr. Scott Jensen, now a GOP candidate for governor, with more than 200 in attendance.
When state Sen. Mike Goggin announced he was not running for re-election, and state Rep. Barb Haley said she was running for Goggin's seat, Altendorf was encouraged to run for Haley's House district. . . .
Posted on the Altendorf for House Facebook page Thursday, Bluestem saw this entry:
That might explain the need for the disclaimer on the event image at the top of this post, although I didn't find a "MN Patriots" or "Minnesota Patriots" committee or fund registered with the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board or Secretary of State business filings database.
One last note about the Minnesota Patriots. This summer the Red Wing Republican Eagle carried a letter to the editor, Name calling is bullying,--also published in the Cannon Falls Beacon-- in which Belinda Kuhn wrote:
...I was shaken from my happy little rural reflections after the disturbing election process of 2020 and realized I needed to take personal responsibility for my own citizenship.
I heard about a grassroots conservative group in Goodhue County called Minnesota Patriots. It was encouraging to connect with others who, like myself, were roused from complacency and wanted to see our communities return to constitutional values.
This growing group met regularly, prayed together and sought to make a positive difference in our towns. These are some of Goodhue County's finest people from all walks of life – farming families, business owners, educators, mothers, fathers, ministers and more.
Last week I heard that a local political group was accusing the MN Patriots of being "radical activists.” Because those words came from people that I had assumed were also politically conservative, it really hurt. It felt like I had just been labeled a "domestic terrorist." This accusation was unfounded – not one specific instance had been cited. . . .
We're not sure how one jumps from "radical activist" to feeling that she's been branded a "domestic terrorist." The feels are powerful with this bunch.
Related posts
Dale Wintherington:
Kim Crockett:
Banner: The online poster for the September 21 event in Pine Island.
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