Oct 25, 2012

Commissioner presents

Kevin Lindsey, Commissioner of Human Rights for the State of Minnesota, today outlined aspects of two ballot issues ahead for voters Nov. 6. In a program held in Chalberg Theatre on the Brainerd campus, Commissioner Lindsey first provided details of the proposed Constitutional Amendment requiring each voter to present a government-issued photo ID before casting a ballot. He said that, if approved, it would be supreme law of the land with the potential to eliminate absentee voting, same-day registration, and discrminiate against the poor and Minnesotans with disabilities. And it would be costly for each county to put into place. He pointed out that Minnesota research showed that in the last general election there were only 26 to 113 individuals who cast ballots who were found to be ineligible, mostly due to their status as parolees who had been released from prison. They were not impersonators. He also addressed the Marriage Amendment, which would limit the status of marriage to opposite-sex couples by defining marriage as between one man and one woman. The Office of Diversity at CLC hosted the program.