Whereas the integrity of our elections is the foundation of our republic; and
Whereas the lack of adequate controls, verifications and audits in Minnesota's voter registration process make it highly vulnerable to errors and abuse; and
Whereas a review of Minnesota's voter registration rolls have revealed specific examples of suspected errors, omissions, inconsistencies; and
Whereas Minnesota's same-day voter registration process makes it impossible for an election official to certify that a new registrant is legally qualified to vote prior to casting a ballot; and
Whereas Minnesota has made substantial investments to ensure the integrity of its ballot counting process and should apply this same standard to its voter registration process; and
Whereas 24 other states have mitigated some of these problems by enacting laws requiring voters to present identification prior to casting their ballot; and
Whereas every Minnesota citizen who is legally eligible to vote deserves to know that their vote will be accurately counted and not undermined by gaps in the voter registration process.
Therefore, I do hereby call for an immediate investigation into apparent irregularities in Minnesota's electoral system and I call upon my elected officials to enact changes in Minnesota law to ensure a more secure, accurate and transparent election system, including:
- Require voters to produce a government-issued photographic identification in order to vote in an election; and
- Require the Secretary of State to employ specific data verification and validation techniques to ensure the accuracy and integrity of Minnesota's voter rolls; and
- Require the Secretary of State to flag voter registration records that fail to meet a specific standard for accuracy and completeness so that these voters can be "challenged" by county election officials at the polls; and
- Require an annual independent audit of the voter registration system; and
- Require voters to register at least 30 days prior to an election so that all voters can be certified as being legally qualified to vote prior to casting a ballot on Election Day.
