Coming Thursday Morning: Live Streaming Video of Voter ID Debate

Debate resumes Thursday on a proposed constitutional amendment that would require voters to show photo ID.

At 10:15 a.m., bill author Rep. Mary Kiffmeyer (R-District 16B), of Big Lake, will present the proposal to the House Government Operations and Elections Committee—on which Hopkins Rep. Steve Simon (DFL-District 44A) sits.

Simon is a critic of the Republican proposal. the requirement could keep a number of deserving voters away from the polls, while also costing the state more money.

The hearing comes one day after MinnPost released analysis of same-day voting for the 2008 presidential election, as well as the political leanings of the precincts in the 2010 election.

Critics of the voter ID bill say the more-stringent requirements would make same-day registration impractical.  Opponents of the bill, including Hopkins Sen. Ron Latz (DFL-District 44), also say the effort is really intended to make it harder for DFL-leaning voters to cast ballots.

The MinnPost analysis found that more than 90 percent of the precincts that saw greater than 40 percent same-day registration went to the Democrats.

Hopkins did not have any of its precincts with election-day registration in excess of 40 percent. All precincts were blue in 2010, with Democrats having a nearly 40-point lead in Precinct 4.

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Hopkins voting trends

Precinct 1

Same-day registration: 28.58 percent

2010 Political Leaning

• Republican: 34.89 percent
• Democrat: 56.64 percent

Precinct 2

Same-day registration: 24.17 percent

2010 Political Leaning

• Republican: 36.64 percent
• Democrat: 56.12 percent

Precinct 3

Same-day registration: 25.55 percent

2010 Political Leaning

• Republican: 40.33 percent
• Democrat: 49.88 percent

Precinct 4

Same-day registration: 24.17 percent

2010 Political Leaning

• Republican: 26.47 percent
• Democrat: 63.74 percent

Precinct 5

Same-day registration: 25.76 percent

2010 Political Leaning

• Republican: 34.25 percent
• Democrat: 56.95 percent

Precinct 6

Same-day registration: 27.08 percent

2010 Political Leaning

• Republican: 46.28 percent
• Democrat: 48.33 percent

SOURCE: MinnPost, “Mapping voter same-day registrations in Minnesota”