Madeline Douglass writes:
Two years ago a badly planned highly political redistricting of Minneapolis precincts resulted in overcrowded voting places where most
of us waited two hours or more to vote.
Kiffmeyer did not respond to the problems except to put an unbelievably positive spin on all of it.
It's time for regime change in the MN Secretary of States' Office.
[TB] Ms. Douglas is being dishonest here. The MN Sec of State has
absolutely nothing to do with the drawing of ward and precinct lines in
the City of Minneapolis.
No, Ms. Douglas is not being dishonest here. She did not accuse Kiffmeyer of having anything to do with the ward and precinct line drawing. She said, quite clearly (above), that Kiffmeyer failed to respond to the problems.
Kiffmeyer has repeatedly made voting more difficult, all the while paying lip service to making voting easier and more reliable, and spinning things to praise herself. When counties complained about the slowness of the new voter registration system -- a system clearly flawed in its design and implementation -- Kiffmeyer blamed the counties for the telecommunications problems. As a 25 year professional in computer and network design, I can tell you the flaw was in the system, not the counties. And as the executive in charge of the system procurement, Kiffmeyer is where the buck stops -- it's her responsibility.
Kiffmeyer also ordered a new policy in handling voter identification at polls. She wanted to force exact (letter by letter) name matches between what the registration database lists as a person's name, and any identification the potential voter might present. Fortunately, an administrative judge threw this bogus idea out. Otherwise, I would not be able to vote. Why? Because my driver's license does not match the voter registration data. And why is that? Because the state's driver's license system and actual license card can NOT accommodate my full name -- there's not enough room. So if it were up to Kiffmeyer, because of the state's own short-sightedness, I would not be able to vote.
Need I remind anyone that the state Supreme Court just recently put the Independent candidates back on the ballot after Kiffmeyer removed them? She claims she was just following the law -- a law she did NOT enforce in 2000. So which is it? Either Kiffmeyer is incompetent or dishonest for not enforcing it in 2000, or she is dishonest about trying to enforce it in 2004. Either way, she is not fit for office.
The litany of petty offenses to the democratic process -- the one so many are upset about with respect to Rep. Kahn -- goes on and on with Kiffmeyer.
This voter-hindrance effort is part of the radical right-wing agenda, and that group happens to be in control of the Republican party these days. I know reasonable, level-headed, ethical, moral Republicans. I used to be one. But they are the minority, and they do not control the party now.
As such, Kiffmeyer is anathema to Minneapolis. This election will turn on voter turnout. The "undecided voter" is mostly a myth. The number of people who are truly undecided is a tiny fraction of the people eligible to vote but who do not do so for whatever reason. Kiffmeyer's true goal, it would appear, is to dissuade the potential Democrat-leaning voters from voting. I refer you to the Op-Ed political cartoon in today's Star Tribune.
Chris Johnson - Fulton
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