Democrats will hash out resolutions regarding controversial topics like same-sex marriage and voter ID laws at the Mower County DFL Convention this weekend.

“If it’s denying rights to anyone, we’re telling our people to vote no,” said Wanda Lunning, co-chair of the Mower County DFL Party.

The convention will be held at El Parral Ballroom in Austin on Sunday, with registration at noon and the event at 1 p.m. The convention’s agenda includes whittling the number of DFL platform resolutions down to 18, the largest number that can be sent on to the state level, and electing officers, Lunning said.

The party is concerned voter ID laws turn certain demographics, such as college students and veterans, away from the polls, Lunning said.

Convention-goers will also look at modifying a few items in the party constitution. Lunning said the current constitution says the treasurer and secretary automatically become delegates. The proposed change would lift that requirement and allow anyone who is a democrat to run for delegate to the State or Congressional District 1 conventions.

“It gives us a chance to get new blood in there,” she said. The treasurer and secretary would still be permitted to run for delegate, she added.

U.S. Rep. Tim Walz has come to the convention in the past, Lunning said, and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s staff didn’t rule out the possibility of her attendance. The Mower County convention was scheduled in conjunction with the one in Freeborn County to better the odds that Klobuchar could come.

“If all the delegates elected at the caucus show up, we’ll be right in the neighborhood of 100,” Lunning said of the convention’s attendance.

While Lunning doesn’t expect every delegate to show, she did say state legislators Rep. Jeanne Poppe, DFL-Austin, and Sen. Dan Sparks, DFL-Austin, will attend.

“It’s just the second step in the process to get to the big stuff in November,” she said.