ELECTION 2004: Minnesota

DFU

[Pali]

I grew up in Mendota Heights!

[EGPWS]

I saw about 6 vandalized Bush/Cheney signs this morning in Edina on the way to the poll.

Vandals for sKerry.

Would one expect them to be for anyone else?

[Snuffington]

Waited 40 minutes in line in Fridley this morning. No MoveOn or any other politicking going on. Didn't even see anyone with a button or sticker (other than the "I voted" kind).

Poll place voter hassling would likely backfire in a number of Minnesota neighborhoods I'm familiar with. It's not about intimidation - it's the rudeness that wouldn't play well.

[Fred Hayek]

Voted in Eagan (Grace Slavic Church) at 9:30. No Kerry buttons, no Bush buttons, lines moved quickly. Election workers did not allow any ballot lists/voter guides displayed while in line, but did permit them out once the voter was in the booth.

[Docbarleypop]

where at in georgia?? i just moved to st paul from kingsland/st marys.

[Fred Hayek]

I thought Hubert Humphrey ran the Communists out of the DFL (that was a few decades ago), however, they're baaaaack! Even though I have disagreements with Humphrey's positions, the Democrats (Democratic-Farmer-Labor) would be probably too far looney left for Humphrey. Mondale is another matter (of course having been Jimmuh Carter's VP, and his playing along at the Wellstone funerally....)

[jambooti]

Augusta

[DrDavid]

That's bad enough that if Sweden was an American state, it would rank #51 in prosperity, not #1 as is taught in many of our schools.

Sweden was #1 in Europe at the end of WWII. They made quite a bit of money selling steal to the Germans and the Allies. I think they have spent it all on their social programs.

[MineralMan]

Haven't voted yet. I'm waiting for my wife to get home from her parents' house. I did drive by my polling place a few minutes ago, in the Eastside of St. Paul. No line. No electioneers from either side. Looks to me like there will be no wait when we head up there around 2PM.

Just moved to MN and just got my registration card in the mail. I'll have to show my DL, since I haven't voted in this precinct before.

The neighborhood is mixed, with lots of Hmong, Somali, and other ethnic groups. About even on Kerry and Bush signs. No stolen signs here at all.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Republicans complain about MoveOn.org activities
Minneapolis Star Tribune (subscription), MN - 1 hour ago
The GOP is alleging that activists from the liberal group MoveOn.org tried to distribute materials inside at least three polling places in violation of state ...
 

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Outside observers, party challengers flock to polls in Minnesota
November 2, 2004

 

Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, center, checks in at a St. Paul polling place on Tuesday morning. Kiffmeyer says so far, there have been no major problems with the election process in Minnesota. (MPR Photo/Toni Randolph)

St. Paul, Minn. — (AP) - The state's two main political parties sent hundreds of monitors to polling places across Minnesota on Monday in anticipation of a high turnout in the battleground state.

The Republicans raised the first objections, alleging that activists from the liberal group MoveOn.org tried to distribute materials inside at least three polling places in violation of state laws against electioneering.

But Ed Johnson, the Minnesota director of Moveon.org, said he was unaware of any violations.

	Voters in Moorhead

"Our volunteers know to follow the law and stay outside the 100-foot requirement," he said.

At Robbinsdale City Hall, GOP observer Doyle Randall worse a bright yellow badge that said "Poll Challenger" and wore a cell phone headset.

But in the first hour or so that the polling station was open, only three voters were turned away. Two of them lived in different precincts and were sent to their proper voting places.

The third was a voter tried to register at the polling place. She had recently moved and her drivers license showed her old address. State law allows a utility bill as proof of address in such cases, but after discussing the matter with Randall, the election judges decided her cell phone bill didn't qualify. They told her to come back with an actual utility bill.

Just a week before the election, about 2.98 million Minnesotans were pre-registered to vote - 4.4 percent more than the 2000 election. And many others voting for the first time, such as immigrants, planned to register on Election Day.

	Waiting in line

Of the more than 50 people waiting at Robbinsdale City Hall for the polls to open, including many minority and first-time voters, the vast majority had pre-registered.

Despite the long line, the early voting generally went smoothly, though Brenda Bous, 43, who was in a wheelchair, said the regular voting booths were too high.

"They definitely should have had more handicapped booths. I ended up using a chair," she said.

Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer said absentee ballot submissions were about double what they were four years ago.

Both Republicans and Democrats pledged to station waves of monitors at the polls. The parties were allowed one monitor inside each polling site, but both also placed lawyers and other volunteers outside to watch and help voters with questions.

	Voting in line

While the partisan monitors could question a voter's eligibility, such challenges were expected to be rare, elections officials said. Any challenge had to be based on knowledge that the voter may not be eligible and presented in writing to an election judge who would decide whether to double-check a voter's ID.

Among the election observers in swing states like Minnesota were a handful of members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe - a first for elections held in the United States.

Two OSCE observers, parliamentarians from Cyprus and Sweden, were at Robbinsdale City Hall when the polls opened.

Goran Lennmarker, of Sweden, said they came to see whether any voters were turned away, and to see whether there was any harassment involved in the challenging process.

"We expected calm, proper, correct. It's quiet so far," Lennmarker said before leaving to check a polling place in Brooklyn Center.

Asked whether he expected any problems with the implementation of Help America Vote Act, which is being implemented for the first time in nine states, he answered, "Certainly not in Minnesota."

Another group at the polling places was Election Protection, a group founded by People for the American Way and other liberal organizations, which registered about 300 monitors in Minnesota and stationed them at polls serving heavy minority populations.

As the polls opened at one precinct Golden Valley, about 80 people waited outside in the cold rain, some who had been standing in line for half-an-hour. About half of those waiting held umbrellas in one hand and insulated coffee cups in the other.

Once the polls opened the wait was 30 to 40 minutes to get inside as newcomers kept the lines long. Voters who came in their cars at 7 a.m. had to park a block away as cars lined the streets in all directions.

A volunteer from MoveOn PAC had a card table set up under an umbrella checking off his list of Democratic voters identified during canvassing who had promised to vote. The group is one of many that have been working for weeks to identify like-minded voters and make sure they cast ballots. Follow-up phone calls and offers of transportation were planned to help get the no-show voters out.

The media also operated under different rules set forth in a new state law.

Reporters and photographers had to get a letter of permission from city or county officials before they could enter a polling place, and they could only stay for 15 minutes.

Media expert said the law was one of the most restrictive in the country. County and city officials contacted by The Associated Press freely granted permission but said they would enforce the 15-minute rule.

[rightwingreligiousfanatic]

Vandals for sKerry.

They are the party of free speech, unless you disagree, then you are being mean-spirited, hateful and bigoted, and they feel that vandalism is justifed apparently.

[EGPWS]

then you are being mean-spirited,

I'll take that over vandalism any day!

[TheLawyerFormerlyKnownAsAl]

Mondale has, how can I put this, let's see, lost a step.

[Rakkasan1]

thanks ,DFU QUOTATION: The Democratic Party is like a mule. It has neither pride of ancestry nor hope of posterity. ATTRIBUTION: Ignatius Donnelly (1831–1901), U.S. author, politician. speech, Sept. 13, 1860, to the Minnesota State Legislature.

[Terriergal]

I'm predicting that Minnesota will be the West Virginia of 2004 -- the state that Bush wins against all conventional wisdom.

And won't that be interesting if we go Repub for the first time in umpteen elections, even in the face of the Osama threat tape that implies states voting for Bush will be targeted especially.

[Terriergal]

I have always heard that Minnesota is a left leaning Rat state but everyone I have met from there seem to all be right leaning. Of course they all live here in Texas now,

I think the RPubs are waking up here. Usually we're so "minnesota nice" and reticent we haven't been very politically active. At least, that's my take on it. Now people are starting to realize what they're losing by not being more involved.

[Terriergal]

FYI... I saw about 6 vandalized Bush/Cheney signs this morning in Edina on the way to the poll.

Don't worry - they do more harm to themselves than help when they do that.