Contentious Voter ID Hearing

Saint Paul, Minnesota
February 12, 2009

Today at the State Capitol things turned from Minnesota nice to Minnesota ice as Rep. Steve Emmer and former Secretary of State Rep. Mary Kiffmeyer, both Republicans presented thier Voter ID Bill (HF57) to the Local Government Operations, Reform, Technology and Elections Committee.

The bill would require Minnesota voters to present a valid photo ID at their polling place before they could cast a vote. The bill would also have provided for provisional ballots for voters who fail to present their ID.

Both Emmer and Kiffmeyer provided testimony and statistics which were challenged by Committee Democrats including Rep. Paul Marquart who called the proposed bill "A problem looking for a solution" and callen into question the integrity of the data presented by Emmer. Rep. Emmer responded by suggesting that it was getting personal and that there was a more "appropriate" place and time to have that discussion.

Witnesses included Professor Dave Shultz who sited his research which showed that there was "negligible" evidence of voter fraud in Minnesota. Current Secretary of State Mark Richie supported this in his testimony saying that "Voter ID would have a zero effect on voter fraud" because he could find no cases of voter impersonation in Minnesota's elections.

Lucky Rosenbloom, tesitified on behalf of the bill saying it would ensure members of the Black community would not be denied a vote because of improper identification. He held up his Xcel energy bill at one point, asking committee members if anyone would like to pay it. He said an ID would ensure a vote.

In the end, the vote was along party lines with one exception, Rep. Phil Sterner - DFL who voted for the Bill. The Local Government Operations, Reform, Technology and Elections Committee voted 11-8 not to approve the bill.

A companion bill sponsored by Sen. Amy Koch a Buffalo Republican, awaits action by the Senate State and Local Government Operations and Oversight Committee.