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| Date: | July 23, 2012 | | Contact Name: | Neil Pursley | | Contact Phone: | (651) 296-4915 | | For Immediate Release | |
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| SENATOR BENSON RESPONDS TO SECRETARY RITCHE’S TITLE CHANGE OF THE VOTER ID AMENDMENT |
(ST. PAUL) - Senator Michelle Benson (R-Ham Lake) released a statement today regarding Secretary of State Mark Ritchie’s decision to exceed his authority by changing the title of the Voter ID on the ballot this November.
“Secretary of State Mark Ritchie has overstepped his authority in re-titling the constitutional question concerning the requirement of photo ID in casting a ballot,” said Senator Benson.
Secretary Ritchie’s reasoning in his assumption of this authority fails on several fronts.
While Minnesota Statute section 204D.15 states that the Secretary of State “shall provide an appropriate title” for each constitutional amendment, it is an authority given to the Secretary of State by the Minnesota Legislature, it is not written in the Minnesota Constitution.
As with the voter ID amendment, when the Minnesota Legislature provides for a title in the language, it is unreasonable to assume that the legislature would intend the Secretary of State to provide a different, more convoluted title for voters.
Our contention is that the Secretary of State has the authority to provide an appropriate title only if one is not provided by the legislature.
The title chosen by Secretary Ritchie is less clear and purposefully more convoluted that the title chosen by the Minnesota Legislature.
The Legislature wrote: "Photo Identification Required for Voting."
Secretary Ritchie’s proposed title is: "Changes to in-person & absentee voting & voter registration; provisional ballots."
The heart of this constitutional question is requiring photo identification in order to vote and the Secretary’s title does not even mention the key element in the amendment. The Legislature’s intent and the constitutional question could not be more simply stated than the title which was named in the legislation.
Senator Benson added, “I believe this is a deliberate attempt by the Secretary of State to confuse the voter in order to defeat the constitutional question.”
Secretary Ritchie contends that because the governor held a ceremonial veto of the legislation passed by the legislature that the governor then vetoed the language set forth in the title for the question on the ballot.
Constitutional questions passed by the Minnesota Legislature go directly to the voters on the ballot. They do not go through the governor’s office or require a signature for passage any more than they can be vetoed.
“Secretary of State Ritchie has demonstrated an inability to separate his activist tendencies from his constitutionally defined duties, and his actions now have been met with a legal challenge,” Senator Benson concluded.
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