October 15, 2012

Political Science Professor Jim Read Writes Op-Ed for Saint Cloud Times on the Proposed Voter ID Amendment



Voter ID doesn't prevent fraud

Proposed amendment will negatively affect students

 


Students at my university come from many cities and towns in Minnesota and other states. Many will be voting for the first time Nov. 6. They will not all vote the same way. They differ politically like the rest of us. What brings them together is that their college campus has become their new home for four years, the community where they emerge as adults and full participants in our democracy.
On the ballot in Minnesota this year is a proposed constitutional amendment that may significantly affect the voting opportunities of college students, renters who move frequently, and others who for one reason or another lack the prescribed documents. At first it seems reasonable to require that you show a government-issued photo ID to prove who you are when you show up to vote. But proving who you are is only part of it. Proving where you live using government-issued ID is often the more difficult part.


Few college students have a driver’s license listing the college campus as their official residence. Instead it still lists their parents’ address in Duluth, Minneapolis, International Falls and so on. Of course students can apply for absentee ballots, or travel to their parents’ home on Election Day, or pay for a new driver’s license with new address before the old one has expired. But few will realize this until it is too late. Voting rates among college students would plummet if on Election Day they had to produce government-issued photo ID listing the address of their college residence.

Minnesota election law does not require this. Instead students living on campus can use university-issued photo IDs to vote if their university has provided the county with student residency information. Students living off-campus may use utility bills to prove residency or have someone registered in the district personally vouch for where they live.


What will happen to college students and others in comparable circumstances if the Voter ID amendment passes?


Everything depends on how the legislation implementing the amendment is written. Nothing in the actual text of the amendment rules out multiple types of photo identification and multiple methods of documenting residency, as under current law.


Voter impersonation could be prevented without burdening legitimate voters.


But many advocates of the proposed amendment push legislation that would impose significant new obstacles for college students and others with new addresses.


The Voter ID bill vetoed last year by Gov. Mark Dayton would have required government-issued photo ID with birth date and current address in the precinct — all on the same card. The bill specifically prohibited the use of student photo ID cards. A valid driver’s license showing a different address was invalid documentation for voting. Individuals could apply in advance for special Voter ID cards issued free of charge, but would have to apply for new cards every time they moved — perhaps even from one dormitory to another.


The real costs here are time costs: a bureaucratic obstacle course that imposes far-greater burdens on some voters than others.


Advocates claim such measures are necessary to prevent voter fraud. Yet a 2012 Carnegie-Knight investigation found only 10 cases of voter impersonation fraud nationwide since 2000, and none in Minnesota. How many thousands of legitimate voters are we willing to burden to prevent one rare (or nonexistent) case of impersonation?


Real election fraud — the kind that changes outcomes — happens when ballot boxes disappear, vote counts are falsely reported or voters of a certain race or political persuasion are prevented from voting. Fraud of that type has occurred often in U.S. history. Voter ID does nothing to prevent it.

I will vote “no” on this amendment. But the amendment itself is only Round One. If it passes, Round Two — how elected officials write the implementing legislation — immediately begins. Those who value the equal right of all citizens to vote should contact elected officials and candidates in both parties to insist that our election laws safeguard that right.

October 10, 2012

MPR's Kerri Miller to moderate panel at Saint John's on religion and politics on October 25

MPR’s Kerri Miller to moderate panel at Saint John’s on religion and politics

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Minnesota Public Radio host Kerri Miller will be the moderator for the panel program “Religion and Politics in Today’s America: An Interfaith Conversation” at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25, in the Stephen B. Humphrey Theater at Saint John’s University.

Pastor Leith Anderson, Imam Makram Nu’Man El-Amin, the Rev. Bill Vos and Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman will be the panelists. 


“Religious ideas and convictions have had an historic and important role in shaping political discourse, elections and public policy,” said Matt Lindstrom, director of the McCarthy Center. “This year’s political campaigns at the national and state levels are no different as religious leaders and faith communities play myriad roles.” 

According to John Merkle, director of the Jay Phillips Center, “the panelists will discuss how their religious faith influences their political ideas and commitments, the impact this election season is having on their faith communities and how they deal with apparent and real contradictions or tensions in their religion’s sacred texts and traditions concerning issues found in contemporary politics.”

Miller is host of MPR’s weekday news program “The Daily Circuit.” She has been a radio and television news reporter since 1981 and joined MPR in 2004.

Anderson is president of the National Association of Evangelicals. He served as senior pastor of Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minn., from 1977 until 2011.

El-Amin is resident imam of Masjid An-Nur Minneapolis. He is co-founder of the Muslim American Society of Young Adults.

Vos, a priest of the Diocese of St. Cloud, is director of Catholic Relief Services for central Minnesota and chair of the board of directors of Maryknoll Lay Missioners.

Zimmerman has been the senior rabbi of Temple Israel in Minneapolis since 2001, where she holds the Alvin and June Perlman Senior Rabbinic Chair.

March 15, 2012

Griffin '09 Moots for Her Majesty

Barry Griffin (Class of '09), a law student at King's College in London, was one of four top students who had the pleasure to moot — participating in a simulated court proceeding — for Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. As part of her diamond jubilee celebrations, the Queen was on hand to formally open Somerset House, the new home of King's College School of Law.
Griffin served as president of the law school's Bar Society and is currently president of The Bahamas Law Students' Association.

February 16, 2012

Letter: SJU students' spirit at caucus encouraging

The Republican caucus of Collegeville precincts 1 and 2 was held Feb. 7 at St. John’s University, with standing room-only attendance.
It was refreshing and encouraging to see some 40 St. John’s students of Precinct 2 enthusiastically participating and volunteering to be precinct officers and delegates to the next level. Several of these young men spoke in support of candidates, participated in the discussion of platform issues, and interacted in a positive way with the 20 community residents present.
This was a great example of making quality intergenerational connections. I commend these young men for taking the time to become involved in this grass-roots process, and encourage them to continue to be active.


Written by
Bill Lewis
Cold Spring