According to University of Minnesota at Morris college student Rachel Haile, students who live off campus have also experienced snags in voting in Stevens County.
Haile, who had registered to vote using her current address on Election Day 2012, learned that she was not on the voter rolls when she went to vote today.
She told Bluestem Prairie that she had received a card indicating that she was registered after voting in 2012 and had not moved or voted elsewhere, so she anticipated that she would have no difficulty voting today. Instead, Haile learned that she wasn't registered.
Fortunately, she was able to register again and voted, but told Bluestem Prairie that she saw other students who thought that they were registered discovering that they were not on the lists. Haile said that they left the polls to obtain documents that would prove their residence in the precinct or registered friends who could legally vouch for them.
She did not know how many had been able to vote upon returning or had been discouraged and not returned to the polling place.
Haile speculated that the issues might have been caused by turnover in the Stevens County Auditor's office. Amanda Barness was appointed to the position at the end of August, the Morris Sun Tribune reported on August 30.
The paper reported Tuesday in Questions raised over same-day registration for UMM students that some students who lived on campus were experiencing difficulties registering and voting. Bluestem had posted about the story earlier in MN12A: University of Minnesota-Morris students allegedly denied right to vote in Stevens County.
Sun Tribune staff writer Kim Ukura reports:
. . .After hearing about concerns on campus, Barsness said staff in her office spoke with Stevens County Attorney Aaron Jordan and the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office to make sure their interpretation of the election law was correct.
“Our goal is to make sure voting happens correctly, properly and legally,” said Barsness.
Barsness said she did not know how many students were affected.
Hartlestad said he had written statements about the ID issue from five students, but there were “many others” who he was not able to grab or weren’t comfortable providing a written statement.
Hartlestad said some students returned with the information the election judges asked for and were able to vote.
We'll update our coverage of voting snafus in Morris as this story develops.
Photo: A gathering on the Univeristy of Minnesota Morris campus.
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