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StarTribune - Print Page �tarTri�une Photo ID amendment: Fraud buster or expensive boondoggle? Article by: JIM RAGSDALE Star Tribune October 10, 2012 - 5:37 AM Two vocal and high-profile Republicans traded barbs Tuesday on the contentious plan to require a photo ID for Minnesota voters, raising the dueling specters of widespread fraud and runaway expenses. "To think that liars and cheaters and stealers exist all around us, but only angels come to vote, is naive," warned state Rep. Kiffmeyer, R-Big Lake, a former secretary of state and sponsor of the proposed constitutional amendment that will appear on the Nov. 6 ballot. Page 1 of 2 � Former Gov. Arne Carison argued his point during a Ti night debate in Maplewood. Carlos Gonzalez, Star Tribune The plan, which would only allow voters with a government-issued photo ID to cast a ballot, "will add integrity to our ele system. It will be easy to vote ... but harder to cheat," she told a forum in Maplewood. But former Gov. Arne Carlson was having none of it. Contending that Minnesota had a national reputation for clean elections, he denigrated the amendment as "a voter- impersonation law when we have no voter impersonation. ... We're giving the patient medicine for an illness they do no1 have." He also cited a survey of local auditors he said put the total costs of the ID plan as high as $100 million, although Kiffm� countered that the potential costs would be limited to providing free IDs to those who need them, a fraction of Carlson's estimate. The sharp exchange mirrored public debate on the plan, which is one of the year's most hotly contested ballot items. A Tribune Minnesota Poll taken in May 2011 showed 80 percent support for the concept. But a poll taken last month shov support had declined to 52 percent, with 44 percent in opposition and 4 percent undecided. Tuesday's forum, sponsored by the human rights commissions of the cities of Maplewood and Roseville, drew about 1 C people. Also on the panel were Carolyn Jackson of the ACLU, which opposes photo ID, and Dan McGrath of Minnesot� Majority, which supports it. McGrath, who has burrowed into state databases in search of fraud, noted more than 200 convictions for illegal voting i 2008 by felons who had not completed the terms of their probation. McGrath suggested the current system allows "creation of entirely fictitious identities on the spot," and the photo ID requirement would stop that. He said politicians elected at the polls control billions of dollars, creating an incentive to ch "Are we to believe no one would be tempted to steal something of that value?" McGrath said. ID supporters suggested that probation records, death records and other databases could be accessed to quickly verify people's identities, but Jackson said such information is not easily available. http://www.startribune.com/printarticle/?id=173423181 10/12/2012