Mondale, Carlson to lead voter ID opposition
A coalition opposing the voter ID constitutional amendment has picked former Vice President Walter Mondale and former Gov. Arne Carlson to help lead its statewide campaign.
Officials with the "Our Vote Our Future" group are trying to convince voters to reject a proposed requirement for all Minnesotans to show photo identification at the polls. During a news conference today, Mondale said said he's offended by the amendment. Mondale said the two recent statewide recounts proved to him that Minnesota doesn't have any election problems.
"There wasn't one suggestion, one hint, one whiff of a problem in the processing and the casting of the ballots," Mondale said. "We passed this test many, many times. This is a clean, solid, exemplary state."
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Carlson said he thinks Minnesotans should be skeptical of the amendment, which he claims is an attempt to prevent some people from voting. He said he's willing to travel the state and debate the issue. Carlson also said the ID requirement would be one of the largest unfunded mandates he's seen.
"It imposes millions and millions of dollars across our local governments and doesn't provide a penny to pay for it, to say nothing of the millions on the state side to pay for these magnificent ID cards." Carlson said.
Former Congressman Tim Penny and civil rights leader Josie Johnson are also co-chairs of the campaign.
Dan McGrath, a spokesman for the pro-amendment group Minnesota Majority downplayed the announcement. McGrath said he's confident voters want a better system for election integrity and won't be swayed by some former politicians.
"These guys are no election experts," McGrath said. "It's not going to have any impact on the campaign."