Mid April 2023 Minnesota Elections Update
Local activity, Legislation, and Learning
Successful coordinated citizen activity in Morrison County prevented the county board’s attempt to centralize power, providing an example of what is possible when informed citizens work hand in hand toward a common goal.
A group in Anoka County has now delivered about two dozen 2-minute speeches to their commissioner group, while activity in Wright County (see below) prompted the commissioner group to hold a meeting where the elections manager attempted to respond to questions brought by citizens.
In this Mid April update I’ll share a few notes on other Local Activity, Legislation, and Learning.
Local Activity
Plenty of communication between citizens and their local elected officials in cities, townships, and counties continues surrounding the time, cost, and accuracy benefits of hand counting and using paper poll books has continued through the Spring of 2023.
Recently, false information shared in the March 27 Wright County commissioner meeting (not available online) by the elections manager was pointed out in this update from Rick Weible and Susan Smith in Monticello, MN, on April 11 (see slides with statutes).
In the same presentation, the elections manager appears to admit to breaking the law whereby no ballots may be counted before 8pm on election night. Wright County is not the only county practicing this illegal activity. Complaints on same have been filed with at least one other county from citizens working on the ballot boards who witnessed this illegality.
Legislation
The poor quality of the bills (and in some cases, their unconstitutionality) is a direct result of senators and representatives who are in most cases (not all) unresponsive to their constituents, we the people.
Legislation in the House and Senate continues in a direction to centralize power at the state level instead of at the precinct and county level where traditionally elections were managed, monitored, controlled, and verified.
A first take on analyzing HF0003 is only scratching the surface of troublesome legislation on the House or Senate floor.
Bills in the MN House and Senate have a decidely different tone from the likes of recent resolutions in Arizona, where it looks like foreign election machines will be banned (all current electronic voting equipment used in the United States contains components or sub-components made outside of the United States).
Learning
City council members, township supervisors, and county commissioners are learning they have the authority to opt out of using electronic voting equipment as well as to opt out of using electronic poll books. Since there are alternatives, citizens are asking, What are you waiting for?
About 7 elected officials (senators, reps, commissioners, and city council members) attended the Monticello event (linked below), a record attendance at an election integrity since the Cyber Symposium in Summer 2021 and the Searching for Truth event in Fall 2021.
Cast Vote Records (CVRs) are a standard across all election equipment providing for the independent verification of tabulation. I was not clear on this in my book and I am glad that Rick Weible and others have clarified in recent months.
These CVR reports have been withheld from the public in almost all counties in Minnesota and numerous county auditors, county administrators, and county attorneys have failed to cite any statute (there is not one) which prevents their immediate release. A single CVR will not demonstrate whether there were anamolies to be investigated (and a CVR can be manipulated), and as such it is a mystery why this small show of transparency would be delayed for over two and a half years. Dodge County, Wisconsin publishes their CVRs on their website.
Here’s a starting point on using public data requests in Minnesota to gain access to public data.
Rick Weible & Susan Shogren Smith, April 11, 2023
part 1 of 2
with Slides embedded into video
Featuring…
Wright County
Sherburne County
YouTube
Telegram
https://t.me/projectminnesota2023/61
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can download video file
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can download video file
Powerpoint Slides
https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/47803963-5178-4387-9865-0ea08f5332bd/downloads/2023_04_11_MN_MonticelloEvent_Final.pdf?ver=1681397936903
Wright County Response to March 27th Meeting
In the April 18, 2023 Wright County Board meeting, commissioners decided to disregard this information and previous information shared by citizens and proceed with the status quo.
Jump to section on elections: https://www.youtube.com/live/6rhiKRPBJd4?feature=share&t=3662
Event - May 7, 2023
Free and Open to the Public
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