TO THE EDITOR:

Make Way for More Election Fraud. Last week I attended my Election Judge (EJ) Training for the Primary here in Sherburne County, and learned some disturbing facts.  We were told that if you are pre-registered to vote with your name already on the voter rolls, you have been verified as a US citizen and therefore eligible.  If you are not already registered, you may register/vote on Election Day provided you have a photo ID such as a MN Driver’s license and a utility bill.  Prior to 10/1/23, a MN Driver’s License meant that you are a US citizen, but with Minnesota’s recently passed, “Driver Licenses for All”, that is no longer true. If we as EJs have to accept this ID when processing a same day registration, what happens with that person’s ballot?  Well, it goes in with the rest of the ballots!  “What if it turns out that the person was not a citizen. . .” (A verification that is apparently not even scheduled to be performed until AFTER election certification!) “. . .how do we remove that ballot from the rest of them?”  The response was you don’t.  If a ballot is ever removed from the “pile”, it would be done “randomly”.  The county stated that they don’t expect any non-citizens to vote as they don’t expect anyone to cheat, or falsely sign their citizen “oath”, (a felony), and even if people did cheat, there would not be enough of them to make a difference in outcome. Did we not just invalidate the integrity of our whole election process?

Bret R. Collier

Big Lake, MN

TO THE EDITOR:

We should be happy we have a Democrat-controlled government in Minnesota. Really? Minnesota’s 2023 abortion laws are among the most liberal in the country.  We had a budget surplus of $19 billion that was spent on social programs while our roads and bridges are not being repaired.  We continue to pay taxes on Social Security, one of 11 states collecting taxes on it.  Our students’ test scores are still lower than pre-pandemic.  Taxpayers subsidize light-rail and railroad riders for commutes to work or events in the Metro, while taxpayers have to pay their own commuting costs.  Minnesota ranks seventh highest in the country for income taxes. The Democrat trifecta raised our vehicle license tabs.  MN lost manufacturing jobs in northern Minnesota.  Legalized recreational marijuana contributes to more vehicular crashes and increased crime rates in states that legalized it.  MN legalized it in 2023. This year the governor and legislators propose higher taxes, a “new” state flag and seal, legalized physician-assisted suicide, forcing doctors to abandon their oath “to do no harm.”  This does not make me proud to be a Minnesotan!

Barry VanBuren

Clearwater