Is the Minnesota GOP responsible for Absentee Ballot confusion?

I was sitting around checking out the copies of the absentee ballots Coleman wants to count at the Startribune site.

It was interesting going through all the individual categories that these absentee ballots were piled into.

Right wing bloggers have used Secretary of State Mark Ritchie as their proverbial punching bag and have called for election reforms.

Dori and I get a lot of political mail, 99% from DFL candidates and the state party. Beyond the government paid Bachmann lit pieces we also got an interesting piece from the Minnesota State Republican Party.

It was a standard fear mongering mailing, raising fears over Barack Obama, Al Franken, and Elwyn Tinklenberg, and provided us with absentee ballot information.

It raised some serious suspicions on our part...

A. Why would the Minnesota Republican Party send absentee ballot information to people who identify as strong or moderate DFL?

B. We live in Cokato, in Wright County. The Minnesota Republican Party self addressed postcard would send our ballot request to Litchfield, in Meeker County.

While the chances Dori and I would be confused over something like this are extremely minimal, I often wondered about the elderly and those that are confused by the absentee voting process.

I recognized it as a deliberate attempt to confuse and disenfranchise voters, and I still see it that way.

While Ron Carey, Cullen Sheehan, and the right wing blogosphere take pot shots at the Secretary of State and county election officials, perhaps they should take a look in the mirror and acknowledge that their own party screwed Norm Coleman over.

How many Minnesota voters were confused and left disenfranchised by the Republican party's mailings?

Once we get back from our 4-5 day stay down here in the cities, we'll try to dig up the mailing in question and get it posted...

SOS Precinct Caucus Finder

To paraphrase Mercury Rising, "The Secretary of State Precinct Caucus Finder: So easy, even Michael Brodkorb can do it." (one click away from the SOS homepage)

Other bloggers have covered the unveiling of the new site as well, Across the Great Divide and Bluestem Prairie.

Brodkorb is caught once again embellishing a situation. While he takes great pride in taking shots at Mark Ritchie and others, it's always nice to see that Brodkorb is simply a tool. A tool that was yet again proven wrong.

What makes this even more hacktackular is that this week, Ritchie’s office came out with a new-and-improved caucus-finding tool, one so easy even a Brodkorb can do it, to paraphrase the GEICO ad. As Ollie notes over at BSP, it got rave reviews, too, even from Republican activist Sara Janacek.

This tool was obviously in the works for months, well before Carey’s Mouth o’ Sauron opened his trap about it last week. And Brodkorb, who is the GOP’s chair in State District 25 and thus would presumably be in the loop when it came to knowing basic elections information, should have known about it well beforehand, as Ollie points out (emphases mine):

So, um, yeah...about that map Mikey...

Kiffmeyer robs the taxpayers!

For Big Lake Republicans, the week just continues to get a bit worse.

The Startribune reports that former Secretary of State, Mary Kiffmeyer not only overpaid her staff the final two years of her reign as SoS, was also overpaid for mileage reimbursements and asked for reimbursement on at least 17 occasions where such reimbursement was not appropriate.

In dollar terms, the most significant finding involved 16 department employees who were hired at a pay rate that exceeded their collective bargaining agreement by as much as $11 an hour, costing the state $160,000.

After a 17th employee was promoted, the employee was overpaid by $11,000.

No one disputes the value of the great staff at the Secretary of State offices, but Kiffmeyer took a page out of the GOP playbook and disregarded standard protocols.

We've never heard that one before...

Even more disturbing, Kiffmeyer sought payment for travel she was not authorized for, not just once...but 17 times!

In her defense, perhaps she was travelling to the various Indian Reservations across the state in an effort to patch things up after suppressing their vote in the 2004 election.

Former State Auditor, Pat Anderson, noted that current Secretary of State, Mark Ritchie, was fulfilling the requirements for these pay increases.

The Kiffmeyer case adds some drama to the GOP dealings in 16B. While Mark Olson has said he will not resign following being found guilty on one count of domestic assault, he will have a difficult time maintaining his House seat in the 2008 elections.

Mary Kiffmeyer was rumored to be a suitable replacement...but that seems to be tarnished right now as well.

It could be worse for Big Lake Republicans though...we could have a Senator Vitter situation to deal with!

Kiffmeyer's activist SoS days

Conservative bloggers like to make light of current Secretary of State Mark Ritchie's days as an activist for rural communities and other progressive groups.

I was fortunate to have spent all day Wednesday at the Capitol, talking to a few Senators and Reps about some issues and catching up with staff members I have not seen in quite some time.

I'll have a longer report on my meeting with Senator Dille later, but it was a very good meeting.

While meeting with a senior member of the Minnesota Legislature, this gentlemen pulled out his "blue book" and was looking at some of the legislative borders around SD 18 and offering an opinion on redistricting and other future campaign possibilities.

For those who don't know what the "blue book" is, this book lists all the information for the 201 elected officials in Minnesota as well as our Federal leaders, the heads of state agencies, election information, and other great facts about Minnesota and the legislature.

It's a very good book for a lobbyist to have. My "blue book" was pretty worn out after 3 years.

This senior member pointed out the bio's in the older (Pre-Kiffmeyer) blue book. It listed his education, occupation, home address, hobbies, and legislative priorities. It also listed their family info.

Newer editions (Kiffmeyer era) took out the majority of biographical information, which did not please this legislator.

He asked Kiffmeyer why this info was deleted.

Kiffmeyer told him it was "so I don't have to list Karen Clark's domestic partner".

At this time, 1 of the 201 elected officials in Minnesota was openly gay. Kiffmeyer, in her homophobic rage, decided to change one of the largest publications promoting state officials and offices because of one possible reference to a same sex domestic partner?

Good job Kiffmeyer, way to let your personal biases permeate your reign of terror as Secretary of State.

GOP attacks on the Secretary of State

The progressive blogosphere has hit back at a neo-conservative plot to defame our newly elected Democratic Secretary of State, Mark Ritchie.

Minnesota Campaign Report has a diary up pointing out the hypocritical nature Minnesota Republicans.

Minnesota Monitor covers the Kiffmeyer era of contradiction.

The GOP attack machine seems to be sputtering a bit already.

How did those all out attacks against Tim Walz, Amy Klobuchar, and Keith Ellison go anyway? Trying to smear Al Franken and now Mark Ritchie, while refusing to discuss the real issues at hand, solidifies the National Enquirer status of the conservative blogosphere.