Letter to the Editor

Charles Mills, Austin

We will hear from the Democrats that Minnesota election law is excellent; we have no fraud, etc. They focus on the number of felons who voted and claim there are no records of people double voting. What they miss is this: Minnesotans can register to vote on Election Day and don’t even need an ID to prove who they are. They complete a voter registration card, check the box that they are a citizen (no proof required) and are allowed to vote. Their ballot goes into the ballot box and their vote is counted.

After the election, postcards are randomly mailed to the names and addresses of same-day registrants. In 2008, depending on who’s counting, 17,000-38,000 of those cards were returned to cities, counties, and towns across the state – “no such address, no such name.”

Who are these people? Why were they allowed to vote?

A photo ID will stop this abuse of a system originally designed to help.

The real questions are: Why is the ACLU fighting a photo ID? Why are Democrats so insistent it’s not needed? Why is Secretary of State Mark Ritchie so concerned about it?

When you have 17,000-38,000 who voted who cannot be found, just exactly what is going on?

A photo ID system lends credibility, integrity and security to a voter registration system with too many holes. If you vote absentee, you must provide identification – when you register on Election Day, someone can vouch for you – that is, you need no ID.

What are we telling non-citizens when they discover they can vote without proving citizenship? We are telling them the law doesn’t matter. Reminder, the foundation of our freedom depends on the Rule of Law – if people come here to escape the systems in their home nations and discover the law here can be abused, that is a bad sign.

State Representative Jeanne Poppe, DFL-Austin, said, “I will not sign it.” She argued that ID is already required earlier in the voting process.

Poppe also said “the League of Women Voters, which I’ve been a 25 year member of, does not support the voter ID process because we do not need it.”

Every time someone votes that is not legally eligible to vote is stealing a vote from someone who is eligible. Theft is theft and stealing an election is a most un-American criminal act.