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Political Agenda

Now the felon voter is getting votes ...

By Jay Weiner | 11/09/10

There's been lots of talk — much of it inaccurate, exaggerated and partisan — about felon voters.

About six weeks ago, I wrote about Ken Mendez, of Crookston, Minn., who was found not guilty of illegally voting, even though he voted while he was in Polk County Jail in 2006.

Turns out, Polk County Attorney Greg Widseth, who unsuccessfully — and unapologetically — prosecuted Mendez, was up for re-election last week. Widseth ran unopposed. He garnered more than 98 percent of the vote.

But there were 153 write-in votes for others. Ken Mendez, at last count by the Polk County auditor's office, got 14 of them.