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BLM: Burning Man yet to resolve health, safety issues
A month and a half before the scheduled start of this year's desert festival, organizers of the annual Burning Man in Northern Nevada have yet to resolve more than 15 health and safety issues stemming from last year's event, according to the Bureau of Land Management.
By STEVE TETREAULT REVIEW-JOURNAL WASHINGTON BUREAU
July 8, 2015 - 4:04 pm
The Man burns during the Burning Man 2014 "Caravansary" arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, August 30, 2014. (REUTERS/Jim Urquhart)
WASHINGTON – A month and a half before the scheduled start of this year's desert festival, organizers of the annual Burning Man in Northern Nevada have yet to resolve more than 15 health and safety issues stemming from last year's event, according to the Bureau of Land Management.
Officials from the BLM and the Burning Man organization were meeting Wednesday in Reno to discuss outstanding issues in advance of the Aug. 30-Sept. 7 festival in the Black Rock Desert.
The federal agency has yet to issue a permit for the event. John Ruhs, the BLM acting Nevada state director, said all conditions raised in a post-event review last year must be addressed for the BLM to allow this year's event to proceed.
Ruhs stopped short of saying the BLM might shut down Burning Man, expressing confidence an agreement could be worked out.
"We have a long ways to go yet but I'm pretty confident we will as always be able to address issues together and get to a good place with them," Ruhs said in an interview.
But the agency took the unusual step of making public a letter listing the outstanding health and safety issues. Of 20 compiled following the 2014 festival, the BLM said 18 remain to be resolved including improvements to its medical program, transportation management and security surrounding the festival's signature burn events.
"Last year, a total of 2,880 patients were treated for medical issues, including 71 drug overdoses, 67 trauma incidents and 30 cases of alcohol poisoning," Ruhs said in the letter to the government affairs director of Black Rock City, LLC, the nonprofit that runs the festival. In addition, a woman from Wyoming was killed when she fell beneath a moving bus.
The Burning Man festival spokesman was traveling on Wednesday and not immediately available for comment.
The BLM letter shed light on the nuts and bolts behind the event in which 60,000 to 70,000 people congregate at the art and counterculture festival in the remote playa.
The BLM making potentially embarrassing public health and safety issues with Burning Man is the latest twist in the relationship between the agency and the festival that this year has been anything but routine in the history of the event that dates to the early 1990s in Nevada.
The bureau came under withering criticism earlier this month after it proposed Burning Man pay for a separate compound for federal working staff with amenities such as refrigerators, washing machines, vanity mirrors, flush toilets and food choices including ice cream and steak.
The agency is reworking a proposed memorandum of understanding for the event after pressure from Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and other federal lawmakers. BLM Director Neil Kornze is a former Reid aide.
BLM officials on Wednesday denied they were in a tit-for-tat with Burning Man. The agency's letter though makes a connection.
The BLM in the letter acknowledged Burning Man concerns with the agency's proposals for food and facilities.
"We are now taking a top to bottom look at exactly what is needed," Ruhs said, adding "While the BLM revises its statement of work, dialogue must also continue on a wide array of health, safety and environmental concerns raised by the BLM earlier this year."
Contact Review-Journal Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@reviewjournal.com or 202-783-1760. Find him on Twitter: @STetreaultDC
Posted on: Local, Local Nevada, News
Array of bills could change Nevada's election process
By Jessica Hill / RJ
January 27, 2023 - 8:24 am January 27, 2023 - 10:52 am
Moving back the deadline to mail in a ballot, requiring an ID to vote, and increasing penalties for submitting fake electoral certificates are all on the table.
Veterans cemetery in Boulder City breaks ground on expansion
By Justin Razavi / RJ
The expansion project, which will add thousands of burial plots and above-ground niches, is expected to start Feb. 6.
Nevada sees some of the lowest COVID-19 levels in US
By Mary Hynes / RJ
January 25, 2023 - 7:54 pm January 26, 2023 - 12:24 pm
Nevada and three others states are the only ones in which all counties are experencing low levels of the virus.
Lake Mead's decline may slow, thanks to winter's wet start
By Colton Lochhead / RJ
While not enough to fend off the falling water levels entirely, the snow that has dropped in recent weeks across the mountains that feed the river is expected to slow the decline at Lake Mead.
Miner killed, another hurt in northeast Nevada accident
One miner was killed and another injured at an underground mine in northeast Nevada.
These Lombardo donors were with Sisolak … until he lost
Many companies that donated only to former Gov. Steve Sisolak suddenly opened their checkbooks once Joe Lombardo won the governor's race in November.
Tesla spending $3.6B to build electric trucks in Northern Nevada
By McKenna Ross / RJ
January 24, 2023 - 11:14 am January 25, 2023 - 7:16 pm
Tesla plans to invest an estimated $3.6 billion in battery and electric semi-truck manufacturing in Northern Nevada and create 3,000 jobs, the company announced Tuesday.
Tribe fights cancer cluster in Nevada town: 'We have to get a new school'
The Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation traces a plume of hydrocarbons to a former maintenance facility, and is asking the Legislature for money to build a new school in another location.
Renner says he broke 30-plus bones in Nevada snowplow mishap
In social media posts Saturday, Renner expressed "much love and appreciation" to people for their "messages and thoughtfulness."
Burning Man organizers sue BLM to block 'green energy' project
Best Fat Burners 2023: Top 8 Effective Weight Loss Pills and Supplements for Men and Women
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BLM cites mining company for trespassing on endangered wildflower habitat


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Indexes journal articles, books, and conference proceedings in pure and applied mathematics, mathematical statistics and some computer science. Provides comprehensive coverage from 1940 and includes bibliographic data from retrodigitized articles dating back to the early 1800s. Provides links to available full text.
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Provides fewer search fields but a simpler search interface than AMS version and better keyword searching.
Covers all areas of the sciences and social sciences with coverage available to 1900. Especially useful for its citation linking.
Authoritative, multidisciplinary content covers over 10,000 of the highest impact journals worldwide, including Open Access journals and over 110,000 conference proceedings. You'll find current and retrospective coverage in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities, with coverage available to 1900. Includes the Science Citation Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index. Web of Science is especially useful for its citation linking.
Scopus is an interdisciplinary, bibliographic database that indexes the contents of more than 15,000 journals in the physical sciences, engineering, earth and environmental sciences, life and health sciences and social sciences.
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Feed-in-tariffs: can you still profit by going green?
lovemoney.com
May 29th 2012 2:01PM
Homeowners paid to produce their own electricity through feed-in-tariffs will see rates slashed from 1st August this year. We explain the changes and reveal whether you can still make money from 'going green'.
Households that want to generate their own electricity from solar panels will see subsidies cut from 21p per kWh to 16p from 1st August.
Early adopters of the feed-in-tariff, also known as clean energy cashback, received 43.3p per kWh. But this rate was reduced by the government as the scheme became increasingly popular and the cost of installing solar panels fell.
Now the rates have fallen still further for new investors.
%VIRTUAL-ArticleSidebar%
Renewable energy systems such as solar panels and wind turbines can be installed in your home and used to generate electricity. Any surplus energy that you don't use is exported back to the National Grid. You are then paid, using Government subsidies, for supplying your own energy and selling the excess back.
These payments come from your usual energy supplier. You also benefit from lower energy bills, as your demand for electricity would be much lower than usual. So you should be making money and saving it at the same time.
Any other changes?
Future tariffs will decrease every three months, only pausing if the market slows down, but will continue to be linked to the Retail Price Index measure of inflation.
There is a separate tariff paid for surplus energy that goes back to the National Grid. This will rise to 4.5p per kWh from the current 3.2p.
But the term over which payments are made will fall from 25 years to 20.
Can I still make money?
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) says the changes still represent a 6% return on investment for a typical solar installation. There is still money to be made and saved; it just won't be as much as previous adopters of the scheme who were handed more generous terms.
It's estimated that the total annual benefit will be around £100 less than it was previously.
Average tariff reductions of 3.5% will also be made every three months, but the cut could be bigger if there is a rapid uptake of the scheme – up to 28% at a time. So your profits will be less the longer you leave it to install the technology. If uptake is low then tariff cuts can be skipped for up to two quarters (six months).
What about other schemes?
The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) will be launched next year, which is a sister scheme to feed-in tariffs. If you install equipment such as biomass boilers or ground source heat pumps, you will be paid for the energy you produce. Systems will need to be new and installed since 15 July 2009.
The tariffs haven't been revealed yet, so there's no way of knowing how profitable the scheme will be for households adopting it and payments won't be made until the scheme is fully launched, most likely in 2013.
However £25 million has been set aside for phase two of the Renewable Heat Premium Payment, which includes helping households buy the right equipment. Vouchers will be given out to help cover the costs, focusing mostly on the four million homes without mains gas heating. A voucher value of £1,250 is given for ground or water-source heat pumps, £950 for a biomass boiler and £850 for an air-to-water heat pump.
A £300 grant will also be available to households wanting a solar thermal hot water panel, regardless of the type of heating system used. For more information and to apply visit the Energy Saving Trust.
This initiative was born under the Energy Act 2011 and is due to come into force later this year. Energy saving measures can be installed in your home with no upfront costs to pay; the changes are paid for through savings made on your energy bills.
However, there have been some concerns about the scheme and whether the money could be better used for homes in fuel poverty.
Read more about the scheme on the DECC website.
Other energy (and money) saving tips
If you don't have the money to install solar panels and wind turbines, or if you can't because you rent your home, it's still possible to save money on energy bills.
Turn your thermostat down to cut heating bills, don't leave appliances on standby or mobiles charging for longer than they need to be and use energy saving lightbulbs, which can save you around £55 over the lifetime of the bulb.
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The Minnesota Voter ID Fraud: Is a sucker really born every minute?
Thoughtful Bastards
This is not simply an attempt to add photo ID to the existing system. This is completely changing the way we vote in MN and it will require the creation of an entirely new election infrastructure.
By Paul Udstrand
This November we'll find out how many suckers vote in Minnesota. Republicans in our fine state have joined their counterparts all over the nation in an ongoing effort to reduce the number of votes cast on Election day. Their rationale for doing this is the subject of another discussion, what we are concerned today is the hidden (I would say deliberately hidden) effects of a deceptively simple proposition. The plan is to amend the MN constitution to require that voters present a government issued photo ID on Election Day in order to cast a ballot. The actual ballot question will look like this:
"Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to require all voters to present
valid photo identification on Election Day and that the state provide free identification
to eligible voters?"
On the face of it this doesn't seem like a big deal, but here's what you need know: it's a huge bait and switch. Here's how the ballot question should read:
"Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to require all voters to present
valid photo identification on election day, abolish same day voter registration, vouching, absentee ballots, create an entirely new system of "provisional" ballots, and provide free identification
to eligible voters?"
Article continues after advertisement
I know, it's a run-on sentence but this is really what you will be voting for if you vote "yes" for voter ID.
This is not simply an attempt to add photo ID to the existing system. This is completely changing the way we vote in MN and it will require the creation of an entirely new election infrastructure. This will eliminate same day registration, vouchers, and could completely change or even prohibit many if not all absentee ballots for state offices.
No more same day registration
Even if you have a valid photo ID on Election Day, if you are not already registered, you will only be allowed to cast a provisional ballot which will not be counted on Election Day. Why? Because the existing system that's used to provide same day registration would be scrapped, and Republicans haven't explained what exactly they're going to replace it with, they promise to work that out after the amendment passes. Those promises are not encouraging. When Mary Kiffmeyer, the House author of amendment was repeatedly asked whether or not unregistered voters with a valid ID would be allowed to cast a normal rather than a "provisional" ballot on Election Day, she simply would not answer the question. Kiffmeyer, a former Secretary of State, has always been critical of same day registration. This amendment a back door way of eliminating same day registration altogether. Same day registration without a valid photo ID will simply not be possible. If you lose your driver's license the day before an election, even if you've been voting at the same polling place for 15 years, you will not be allowed to cast a normal ballot, you will have to cast a "provisional" ballot that will not be counted on Election Day. You will have tendered a provisional ballot that will only be counted after you return at a later date with the valid ID. And by the way, you don't return to the polling place, you have to go county elections office which for some Minnesotan's is over a 200 mile round trip.
Basically same day registration would be replaced with provisional ballots. What's wrong with provisional ballots? Well for one thing, no one knows when or if all the provisional ballots will be counted. The amendment guarantees you a provisional ballot, but it does not guarantee that that ballot will ultimately be counted. The amendment merely says these ballots will be counted "in a manner provided by law".
In the last election 500,000 (almost 20% of the total votes) same day registration ballots were cast. The effect of eliminating same day registration will disenfranchise voters and decrease the number of votes. Tens of thousands or maybe hundreds of thousands of provisional ballots will be set aside on Election day.
There's another thing about these "provisional" ballots that's troubling. Normally your vote is secret, no one knows or can know who you voted for. Provisional ballots by definition need to be attached to your identity until they're verified. In other words, unlike a normal ballot that just goes into the machine, your provisional ballot has to be set aside with your name on it until it's counted, if it's ever counted.
Provisional ballots are completely new process for MN. They currently do not exist so the entire system of collecting them, storing them, keeping them intact and retrievable, and then counting or not counting them will have to be created. This is NOT simply adding a photo ID to the current system.
No more vouchers
In any given election there are thousands of voters who are living in new or temporary addresses. There are thousands of voters who have no address because they are in shelters or on the street. And then there are thousands that live in nursing homes or other group homes. It's estimated that 200,000 or more of these people currently have no valid photo ID. Many seniors for instance have let their drivers licenses expire because they no longer drive. Many people living in group homes of various types can't drive in any event. Many college students from other states and other MN towns don't have current state issued photo IDs. Of course it goes without saying that homeless people don't have valid IDs with a current address on them. These are all people who are constitutionally guaranteed a right to vote, and who are currently voting. The way we currently accommodate these voters is to allow another registered voter to vouch for them. A registered voter can vouch for up to 15 people. Why 15 people? This is NOT about driving around a van and shuttling voters from one polling place to the next. Minnesota law currently licenses residential facilities i.e. group homes for developmentally disabled, mentally ill, battered women, chemical dependency, etc. to house 15 residents in most cases. The vouching system was set up so these people could be taken to the polling place by resident staff and cast their vote. A voucher testifies that you know this person, they are who they way they are, and they currently live in the precinct where they are voting. When you vouch for someone you basically sign an affidavit, it's perjury to lie on an affidavit and in MN this is a felony offense.
Vouching is currently allowed as part of the same day registration process as well. Photo ID will eliminate vouching. Republicans want to eliminate vouching because they imagine thousands of voters being scooped up by nefarious ne'er-do -wells in big vans and being shuttled from poll to poll. The truth is that apparently no one is willing to go to jail on behalf of an underdog candidate because no actual instances of this kind of fraud have actually been prosecuted in MN, or even reported. While one can imagine bus loads illegal voters, the truth is that this vouching allows thousands of MN's the chance to exercise their constitutional right to vote. Eliminating vouching won't disenfranchise all of those voters, but it will disenfranchise some of them.
Republicans frequently evoke the specter of ACORN when it comes to this business of bus loads voters flitting around town in vans. Here's what you need know: neither ACORN as an organization nor any of its members have been charged with voter fraud. What some ACORN workers have been charged with is election registration fraud. The difference between registration and voter fraud is significant. There is no evidence that ACORN members were trying to influence elections by stuffing ballots, rather they were trying to meet registration quotas in order to get paid, they produced bogus registrations, they did not produce fraudulent voters or votes. And there have been no reports about ACORN having anything to do with van loads of voters.
Absentee ballots under threat
Republicans try to blow a lot of smoke all over this but the fact is there no way that someone casting an absentee ballot can produce a Photo ID in person on the day of election as required by this amendment. Language allows for a: "substantially equivalent" verification process, but Republicans have never described what that process could look like, and frankly it's very difficult to imagine what it could look like. What could be "equivalent" to producing a photo ID in person on the day of election? Ironically when pressed on this issue on the house floor Kiffmeyer suggested that a vouching signature on the absentee ballot might be sufficient. So vouching would be eliminated for people voting in person, but created for people voting by absentee ballot. Apparently there are some federal protections for casting absentee ballots for federal office, but the extent to which these laws would protect Minnesota's absentee ballots is unclear at best.
Beyond all the considerations I've discussed so far there are very basic problems with this proposition. The nature of a "valid" ID has not been defined, and Republicans have been very dodgy about the issue. On the floor of the House when asked, Kiffmeyer actually claimed that any government issued photo ID would be "valid". She said that if you up showed to vote in Rochester with a Nevada driver's license you'd be allowed to vote. Frankly, this is a lie and Kiffmeyer knows it. A valid ID for voting has to have your current address on it because you're not just demonstrating who you are, but that you're voting at the right location. Without the address requirement a bunch of folks from Wisconsin could come over and vote against Michelle Bachmann. Remember, the current same day registration process that requires additional verification like a utility bill, will no longer exist. This means that a valid ID must have a current address on it and THAT means that forms of ID like passports and military IDs will not be valid for voting. What Kiffmeyer isn't telling us is that such voters may be given "provisional" ballots, but there would no way to cast a ballot that would counted on Election Day.
Furthermore, the actual mechanics of a presenting an ID have not been described in any meaningful way. There are videos showing nifty little card swipers connected to laptops but that actually raises more questions than it answers. For one thing it reinforces the notion that specific kinds of state issued IDs will be required. Unless you have multiple swipe technology connected to multiple data bases you're going to be limited to certain types of IDs. You can't use the same technology to swipe a driver's license and a passport for instance. And you'd have to be connected to completely different data bases i.e. the State Department for passports, and the Pentagon for Military IDs. The connections between these data bases and the polling place would have to secure and reliable, and the data bases themselves would have to perfectly reliable and up to date. For instance, if the intention really is to accept out of state driver's licenses as Kiffmeyer said, then every polling place would have to be connected to a minimum of 50 different data bases on election, and you would need the technology to swipe all of these. The technical logistics for all of this don't currently exist anywhere in the world, and frankly the cost of creating one would be prohibitive. This means that as a practical matter, state ID or Driver's license with a current address will be the only form of voter ID that will get your vote counted on Election day, and that's only if you're already registered.
Regardless what technology would ultimately be deployed, there will be malfunctions and user errors. You have to remember, the polls are not staffed by computer nerds, they are staffed by volunteers who will have to be trained in a completely new system and technology. Even with existing technology we have hundreds of breakdowns on Election Day that poll workers have to contend with. Right now, no matter what technical problems may arise at the polls, you get to vote and your vote gets counted. This new system creates an entirely new front end that blocks votes from being counted under a variety of circumstances for a variety of anticipated and unanticipated reasons.
It's vitally important that MN voters understand that the voter ID requirement created by this constitutional amendment does NOT simply "add" photo ID to the current system. This requirement completely restructures and changes the way we do elections in MN. It will disenfranchise the most vulnerable voters in the state, it will cost tens of millions of dollar to implement, and there is actually no evidence that will even prevent voter fraud.
This blog was written by Paul Udstrand and originally published on Thoughtful Bastards.
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The Minnesota Voter ID Fraud: Is a sucker really born every minute?

By Paul Udstrand

April 18, 2012

This November we'll find out how many suckers vote in Minnesota. Republicans in our fine state have joined their counterparts all over the nation in an ongoing effort to reduce the number of votes cast on Election day. Their rationale for doing this is the subject of another discussion, what we are concerned today is the hidden (I would say deliberately hidden) effects of a deceptively simple proposition. The plan is to amend the MN constitution to require that voters present a government issued photo ID on Election Day in order to cast a ballot. The actual ballot question will look like this:

"Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to require all voters to present
valid photo identification on Election Day and that the state provide free identification
to eligible voters?"

On the face of it this doesn't seem like a big deal, but here's what you need know: it's a huge bait and switch.  Here's how the ballot question should read:

"Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to require all voters to present
valid photo identification on election day, abolish same day voter registration, vouching, absentee ballots, create an entirely new system of "provisional" ballots,  and provide free identification
to eligible voters?"

I know, it's a run-on sentence but this is really what you will be voting for if you vote "yes" for voter ID.

This is not simply an attempt to add photo ID to the existing system. This is completely changing the way we vote in MN and it will require the creation of an entirely new election infrastructure. This will eliminate same day registration, vouchers, and could completely change or even prohibit many if not all absentee ballots for state offices.

No more same day registration

Even if you have a valid photo ID on Election Day, if you are not already registered, you will only be allowed to cast a provisional ballot which will not be counted on Election Day. Why? Because the existing system that's used to provide same day registration would be scrapped, and Republicans haven't explained what exactly they're going to replace it with, they promise to work that out after the amendment passes.  Those promises are not encouraging. When Mary Kiffmeyer, the House author of amendment was repeatedly asked whether or not unregistered voters with a valid ID would be allowed to cast a normal rather than a "provisional" ballot on Election Day, she simply would not answer the question. Kiffmeyer, a former Secretary of State, has always been critical of same day registration. This amendment a back door way of eliminating same day registration altogether. Same day registration without a valid photo ID will simply not be possible. If you lose your driver's license the day before an election, even if you've been voting at the same polling place for 15 years, you will not be allowed to cast a normal ballot, you will have to cast a "provisional" ballot that will not be counted on Election Day. You will have tendered a provisional ballot that will only be counted after you return at a later date with the valid ID.  And by the way, you don't return to the polling place, you have to go county elections office which for some Minnesotan's is over a 200 mile round trip.

Basically same day registration would be replaced with provisional ballots. What's wrong with provisional ballots? Well for one thing, no one knows when or if all the provisional ballots will be counted. The amendment guarantees you a provisional ballot, but it does not guarantee that that ballot will ultimately be counted. The amendment merely says these ballots will be counted "in a manner provided by law".

In the last election 500,000 (almost 20% of the total votes) same day registration ballots were cast.  The effect of eliminating same day registration will disenfranchise voters and decrease the number of votes. Tens of thousands or maybe hundreds of thousands of provisional ballots will be set aside on Election day.

There's another thing about these "provisional" ballots that's troubling. Normally your vote is secret, no one knows or can know who you voted for. Provisional ballots by definition need to be attached to your identity until they're verified. In other words, unlike a normal ballot that just goes into the machine, your provisional ballot has to be set aside with your name on it until it's counted, if it's ever counted.

Provisional ballots are completely new process for MN. They currently do not exist so the entire system of collecting them, storing them, keeping them intact and retrievable, and then counting or not counting them will have to be created. This is NOT simply adding a photo ID to the current system.

No more vouchers

In any given election there are thousands of voters who are living in new or temporary addresses. There are thousands of voters who have no address because they are in shelters or on the street. And then there are thousands that live in nursing homes or other group homes. It's estimated that 200,000 or more of these people currently have no valid photo ID. Many seniors for instance have let their drivers licenses expire because they no longer drive. Many people living in group homes of various types can't drive in any event.  Many college students from other states and other MN towns don't have current state issued photo IDs. Of course it goes without saying that homeless people don't have valid IDs with a current address on them. These are all people who are constitutionally guaranteed a right to vote, and who are currently voting. The way we currently accommodate these voters is to allow another registered voter to vouch for them.  A registered voter can vouch for up to 15 people.  Why 15 people? This is NOT about driving around a van and shuttling voters from one polling place to the next. Minnesota law currently licenses residential facilities i.e. group homes for developmentally disabled, mentally ill, battered women, chemical dependency, etc. to house 15 residents in most cases. The vouching system was set up so these people could be taken to the polling place by resident staff and cast their vote. A voucher testifies that you know this person, they are who they way they are, and they currently live in the precinct where they are voting. When you vouch for someone you basically sign an affidavit, it's perjury to lie on an affidavit and in MN this is a felony offense.

Vouching is currently allowed as part of the same day registration process as well. Photo ID will eliminate vouching. Republicans want to eliminate vouching because they imagine thousands of voters being scooped up by nefarious ne'er-do -wells in big vans and being shuttled from poll to poll. The truth is that apparently no one is willing to go to jail on behalf of an underdog candidate because no actual instances of this kind of fraud have actually been prosecuted in MN, or even reported.  While one can imagine bus loads illegal voters, the truth is that this vouching allows thousands of MN's the chance to exercise their constitutional right to vote.  Eliminating vouching won't disenfranchise all of those voters, but it will disenfranchise some of them.

Republicans frequently evoke the specter of ACORN when it comes to this business of bus loads voters flitting around town in vans. Here's what you need know: neither ACORN as an organization nor any of its members have been charged with voter fraud.  What some ACORN workers have been charged with is election registration fraud. The difference between registration and voter fraud is significant. There is no evidence that ACORN members were trying to influence elections by stuffing ballots, rather they were trying to meet registration quotas in order to get paid, they produced bogus registrations, they did not produce fraudulent voters or votes.  And there have been no reports about ACORN having anything to do with van loads of voters.

Absentee ballots under threat

Republicans try to blow a lot of smoke all over this but the fact is there no way that someone casting an absentee ballot can produce a Photo ID in person on the day of election as required by this amendment. Language allows for a: "substantially equivalent" verification process, but Republicans have never described what that process could look like, and frankly it's very difficult to imagine what it could look like. What could be "equivalent" to producing a photo ID in person on the day of election? Ironically when pressed on this issue on the house floor Kiffmeyer suggested that a vouching signature on the absentee ballot might be sufficient. So vouching would be eliminated for people voting in person, but created for people voting by absentee ballot.  Apparently there are some federal protections for casting absentee ballots for federal office, but the extent to which these laws would protect Minnesota's absentee ballots is unclear at best.

Beyond all the considerations I've discussed so far there are very basic problems with this proposition. The nature of a "valid" ID has not been defined, and Republicans have been very dodgy about the issue. On the floor of the House when asked, Kiffmeyer actually claimed that any government issued photo ID would be "valid". She said that if you up showed to vote in Rochester with a Nevada driver's license you'd be allowed to vote.  Frankly, this is a lie and Kiffmeyer knows it.  A valid ID for voting has to have your current address on it because you're not just demonstrating who you are, but that you're voting at the right location. Without the address requirement a bunch of folks from Wisconsin could come over and vote against Michelle Bachmann. Remember, the current same day registration process that requires additional verification like a utility bill, will no longer exist. This means that a valid ID must have a current address on it and THAT means that forms of ID like passports and military IDs will not be valid for voting. What Kiffmeyer isn't telling us is that such voters may be given "provisional" ballots, but there would no way to cast a ballot that would counted on Election Day.

Furthermore, the actual mechanics of a presenting an ID have not been described in any meaningful way. There are videos showing nifty little card swipers connected to laptops but that actually raises more questions than it answers. For one thing it reinforces the notion that specific kinds of state issued IDs will be required. Unless you have multiple swipe technology connected to multiple data bases you're going to be limited to certain types of IDs. You can't use the same technology to swipe a driver's license and a passport for instance. And you'd have to be connected to completely different data bases i.e. the State Department for passports, and the Pentagon for Military IDs. The connections between these data bases and the polling place would have to secure and reliable, and the data bases themselves would have to perfectly reliable and up to date. For instance, if the intention really is to accept out of state driver's licenses as Kiffmeyer said, then every polling place would have to be connected to a minimum of 50 different data bases on election, and you would need the technology to swipe all of these.  The technical logistics for all of this don't currently exist anywhere in the world, and frankly the cost of creating one would be prohibitive. This means that as a practical matter, state ID or Driver's license with a current address will be the only form of voter ID that will get your vote counted on Election day, and that's only if you're already registered.

Regardless what technology would ultimately be deployed, there will be malfunctions and user errors. You have to remember, the polls are not staffed by computer nerds, they are staffed by volunteers who will have to be trained in a completely new system and technology. Even with existing technology we have hundreds of breakdowns on Election Day that poll workers have to contend with.  Right now, no matter what technical problems may arise at the polls, you get to vote and your vote gets counted.  This new system creates an entirely new front end that blocks votes from being counted under a variety of circumstances for a variety of anticipated and unanticipated reasons.

It's vitally important that MN voters understand that the voter ID requirement created by this constitutional amendment does NOT simply "add" photo ID to the current system. This requirement completely restructures and changes the way we do elections in MN. It will disenfranchise the most vulnerable voters in the state, it will cost tens of millions of dollar to implement, and there is actually no evidence that will even prevent voter fraud.

This blog was written by Paul Udstrand and originally published on Thoughtful Bastards.

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