In Rochester Post Bulletin staff writer Ken Hanson's report, Brede, Wojcik speak against photo ID amendment, the city clerk notes the potential costs of changes Minnesota's third largest city:
Judy Scherr oversees elections in her capacity as city clerk.
“I’m not here to tell you to support or oppose the constitutional amendment but to tell you my concerns and the impact that it could have on Rochester and Olmsted County,” Scherr said. “I am a firm believer in the right to vote and have worked with elections for the past 32 years. My biggest concern is that those citizens eligible to vote may not be able to vote because of lack of required government-issued IDs.”
Scherr said Rochester might be faced with more than $100,000 in costs should the amendment pass.
Read the whole thing at the Post Bulletin.
As is the case with any remotely political article in the Post Bulletin, a swarm of conservative commenters weigh in. The most frequent claim for support of the notion that fraud takes place seems to be the case of "Victoria Ayoola," the Kiffmeyer-era hire who worked in the Secretary of State's office from 2005 until the discovery of her crime.
Bluestem looked into this issue, ending with the post, If Mary Kiffmeyer couldn't smell fraud when it was right under her nose, how are we to trust her (and Minnesota Majority pals) on photo ID?
Several of those making comments at the PB throw George Soros's name in the brew. If Soros can induce former Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer to allow "Victoria Ayoola" to first vote in 2004, then cause the Big Lake Republican to hire and promote "Ayoola," then the billionnaire is indeed far more powerful than we thought.
Unfortunately, the photo ID amendment won't stop fraudsters like "Ayoola," since her driver's license was valid, though obtained by fraud.
Rather, when the 2008 one-time scan of photos in the DMV database revealed 24,000 suspect licenses, the Pawlenty administration ought to have fought tooth and nail to obtain facial recognition software that would regularly detect possible fraud in new licenses--and to seek changes in Minnesota's license system to deter criminials from getting valid licenses obtained through fraud.
And Pawlenty might have signed the bill that the legislature sent him that would have given the Secretary of State office the tools Ritchie sought to be able to address problems created by criminials like Ayoola. Pawlenty vetoed the bill.
Instead, Minnesota Republicans put all their energy into requiring a photo ID to vote--a change that will cost local government while force those without government-issued photoID to spend time and money to obtain the documents needed to get an ID. Rooting out the real fraudsters? Not so much.
Photo: Mary Kiffmeyer, secret agent of Soros? Photo: Paul Schmelzer, Minnesota Independent. For the record, Bluestem thinks that Kiffmeyer is probably motivated by the factors outlined in Dan Froomkin's article at HuffPo, Reporters Know What the 'Voter ID' Push Is Really About. Why Don't They Just Say So?
What did Mary Kiffmeyer know about ID fraudster "Victoria Ayoola" & when did she know it?
Comments