Bob CollinsSecretary of State Mark Ritchie is asking prosecutors to look into a phone call that Larry Johnson of St. Paul got from a woman questioning him about his voting record. According to Ritchie, who held a news conference this afternoon, the woman said she was working with Jeff Davis, who heads Minnesota Majority.
This is the group that I mentioned last week was claiming many of the new voter registrants gave addresses that had empty lots.
What is Minnesota Majority? It contends Minnesota school children are being indoctrinated into homosexuality, and it also questions the Republican values of former Democrats such as Norm Coleman and Joe Lieberman.
The group and Ritchie have been exchanging letters in the last week over the vacant-lot claims.
It has — or had — ties with former Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, who was a consultant with the group. Kiffmeyer also comes up as part of another group — Minnesota Voters Alliance — which was in the news today for demanding photo IDs when voting. She’s on that group’s advisory board. She’s currently running for the state Senate House and may be best remembered for a warning she sounded (as quoted here in the Washington Post) about terrorism at the polls:
ritics of the warnings point to Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer’s effort to raise terrorism awareness as an example of how election security measures could chill turnout. Kiffmeyer (R) gave local election officials fliers that warned voters to watch for unattended packages, vehicles “riding low on springs” and “homicide bombers.”
Bombers may have a “shaved head or short hair,” “smell of unusual herbal/flower water or perfume,” wear baggy clothes or appear to be whispering to themselves, the flier warned.
Several local election officials were outraged over what they saw as an attempt to discourage voting with excessively dire warnings and stereotyping descriptions that could single out voters from specific religious, racial or ethnic groups for harassment. They refused to distribute the fliers.
So far, Minnesota Majority has not responded to requests for an interview. But the group released a statement saying it has done nothing wrong.
