Cross-posted from
MN Campaign Report - tracking statewide and key local races on Election Day across Minnesota - keep in touch :)
A petition to correct Omissions and Wrongdoings was filed against Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer on Friday in the Minnesota Supreme Court. The complaint, filed by John Hottinger on behalf of several complainants, alleges several wrongdoings by Kiffmeyer related to the upcoming elections -
- A. Secretary of State Kiffmeyer's official website fails to adequately inform voters about statutory provisions enacted in 2005 regarding the verification of residency for same day voter registration for voters in residential facilities...
- B. Secretary of State Kiffmeyer has failed to notify residential facilities about the statutory requirement that they submit a list of employees at least 20 days before the election, allowing employees to vouch for the residents...
- C. Secretary of State Kiffmeyer's official website provides erroneous information about the polling locations for 42 precincts. See attached Exhibit A...
- D. Secretary of State Kiffmeyer's official website fails to use the language that the legislature enacted in 2005 and 2006 to describe voting eligibility for people under guardianship and for ex-felons...
Exhibit A listed in part (C) is a spreadsheet, which has also been provided to MN Campaign Report, listing the precincts in question. Among them are twenty precincts in SD20; this is a rural district in Western Minnesota represented by three DFLers: Sen. Gary Kubly, and Reps. Aaron Peterson and Lyle Koenen. Also on the list are four precincts in SD23, the district represented by the retiring Hottinger and site of key open-seat races in both the Senate and the House.
With the election right on top of us, this complaint will have to be addressed quickly in order to have an effect on the Secretary's website before Tuesday. In a press release today, Kiffmeyer's DFL opponent Mark Ritchie said "I am just stunned. Yet again in the days just before an election - just as in November 2002, November 2004, September 2005 and before this year's Primary Election - Mary Kiffmeyer seems unwilling to do critical parts of her job without the prompting of legal challenges and court decisions."
The two will face off in Tuesday's General Election.