Friends and Neighbors,
At recent League of Women Voter’s forum in Park rapids, a question came up regarding voter fraud. It was not part of the schedule and I did not have actual numbers with me. So when asked, I recalled there were indications of fraud in the 2008 elections. I mentioned the number 24,000 returned new registration cards that could not be delivered. Because there have been comments over this statement, I asked for, and received, numbers from the Minnesota Secretary of State’s (SOS) Office.
The number given from the SOS was 24,740 undeliverable registration cards. Of this number, 1,842 have since been delivered. This leaves 22,898 that were undeliverable. Even though this was the number I received, it is apparently not all from 2008.
The updated numbers from the SOSs office are as follows.
Of the 22,898 undeliverable registration cards:
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13,363 of the voters in this database used Election Day registrations in the general election on November 4th 2008.
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The SOS believes 10,095 were returned because the voter moved, either in State or out of State.
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103 were returned with the designation of no such address.
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3,159 are simply noted as “undeliverable.”
The SOSs office also stated, “Starting in 2010, county auditors were required to notify the Office of the SOS of the number of Postal Verification Cards (PVCs) that were turned over to their county attorney (because they were sent to Election Day registrants whose eligibility could not be verified). The 2010 number was 399.”
I have not spoken to any County attorneys on this matter; quite frankly, I think it would be fruitless to waste their time going back that far. I do believe it would be impossible to seek out and attempt to prosecute people who may not even exist.
There was no similar reporting requirement in 2008, so they do not know how many of the returned PVCs could not be verified and were turned over to county attorneys, nor how many of those cases that were turned over were ultimately prosecuted.
These numbers do not include the estimated number of felons who may have voted illegally.
In conclusion, I’d like to thank the folks who brought it up. I am not sure how helpful it is to be upset over an election held 8 years ago. However, the numbers indicate that there is certainly cause for concern with the current process. I appreciate the opportunity to get these numbers out there for discussion.
Thank you,
Steve