In February the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota issued this challenge: "If you can bring us evidence of a voter impersonation conviction that would have been prevented by this new law...we will give you $1,000". The ACLU-MN announced today that it did not receive any evidence that met these criteria so they will be keeping their $1,000 and spending it to defeat the voter ID amendment.
We received several responses, but only one had the information necessary to determine if it was a valid case. Minnesota Majority held a press conference in March where they submitted a case involving a woman who filled out an absentee ballot on behalf of her daughter, submitted it and then her daughter ended up voting in person as well. This case, while an example of an adjudicated case, would not have been impeded in any way by the proposed amendment.
Rep. Mary Kiffmeyer, the former Secretary of State and current author of the voter ID bill, unwittingly nullified this claim when she testified in the House Local Government and Elections Committee that, "You can see already, that this absentee ballot in its current form is already complaint with this constitutional amendment."
Since the voter ID amendment would not change how absentee balloting is done, this case would still have occurred even if the voter ID amendment were to pass. Furthermore, the daughter used a photo ID to register on Election Day. Ironically, the alternative to voter ID, electronic pollbooks, would have prevented this case.
"The very fact that the proponents of the bill are unclear on how it will affect voting, should be enough to give us all pause as the debate continues," stated Charles Samuelson, Executive Director of the ACLU-MN. "We have said all along that this proposed amendment will not prevent any problems, and, indeed, it will serve to aggravate the only real problem in Minnesota elections: the almost three quarters of a million people that will be ineligible to vote if this amendment passes."
The ACLU-MN will continue its work to defeat voter ID, working with a broad coalition of groups to defeat this ballot initiative.