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Mark Ritchie

Minneapolis, Minnesota
Commenter for
1 year 8 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 09/08/12 at 07:17 am in response to Minnesota voting amendment would change much more than you might think

61% of current Minnesota voters have registered to vote in their polling place, based on their voting history record in the Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS).

Posted on 08/16/12 at 01:10 pm in response to Technology could supplant voter IDs at polls, but registration problems remain

There is a lot new technology coming into elections administration that can be transformative. But it is important for information about this to be accurate. We do have an excellent proposal on how to use existing photographic databases for visual verification purposes here in Minnesota but our approach does not, as this article states, leave out people who lack drivers' licenses.

First, our proposal includes both an electronic pollbook option and a paper pollbook option. In the zero...

Posted on 06/08/12 at 01:06 pm in response to Study shows Minnesota ranks last in region in ease of starting a business

A key measure of the ease/success of company formation is the number of new firms - and Minnesota does quite well

http://minneapolisfed.typepad.com/roundup/2012/04/index.html

Posted on 06/07/12 at 04:44 pm in response to Two Minnesota commissioners selected for national leadership fellowship

I had the honor of being invited to be in this program a few years ago and found it to be one of the most dynamic learning experiences I have ever participated in. It is very rare for a state to have two people included in any one year. Bravo!

Posted on 05/22/12 at 10:29 am in response to Could Photo ID be scuttled even if Minnesota voters approve constitutional amendment?

Only the length of time of the provisional voting period was left undefined - the rest is well-defined. And since it is a proposed Constitutional amendment it cannot be altered in any way by future legislators.

Posted on 04/02/12 at 12:04 pm in response to New ‘fraud’ law creates hassle for state employees — and for legislators themselves

I have now spent six hours navigating voice mail menus, being on "hold" and talking to various people trying to get a copy of my marriage certificate in California. With almost no one staffing this kind of office nowadays it has been an incredible waste of my time. In over 30 years of blissful married I have never once had to produce this document. I do hope I can eventually get this done so we don't lose our health insurance. I may need it to deal with my blood pressure.

Posted on 03/25/12 at 08:14 am in response to Senate approval clears way for Voter ID constitutional amendment

Take two minutes and read the KIffmeyer Amendment and be sure to check out the language that is being proposed for the ballot in November - at the bottom of the bill. The House version of the bill is at http://tinyurl.com/6uv22bo.You might notice that this proposed ballot language completely skips over any mention of provisional voting and the ending of same day registration -- and it makes no mention of...

Posted on 03/23/12 at 07:32 am in response to Sunday papers: Overpaid execs, Doonesbury, the cost of Voter ID

There are two parts of this proposal - the first and by far most costly is the elimination of same day voter registration and replacing it with a new election system called provisional balloting. The second part is to require photo id presentation by some, but not all, Minnesota voters. This second part is a relatively small part of the overall cost but somehow gets all the attention.