ST. PAUL – For a growing number of southeastern Minnesota residents, election integrity has become a significant concern. State Representative Steve Jacob (R-Altura) said a comprehensive election policy bill that was approved solely by House Democrats on April 8 will do little to alleviate their fears.
“When you craft and approve a purely partisan bill and refuse to allow Republicans to improve the legislation, it’s easy to reach the conclusion that Democrats do not care about election integrity,” Jacob said.
The most egregious language, according to Jacob, allows voters to just describe where they’re living while filling out a voter registration form rather than listing an actual address.
“In essence, all a person would need to say is that they live in the blue house just off 19th Avenue, in order to place that person in the proper voting precinct,” Jacob said. “Does anyone really believe there will be no voter fraud committed with this provision in place?”
Jacob said the House majority also shot down efforts to prevent private grant money from being used to help conduct elections. In 2020, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg made a $300 million donation to a liberal group that had the stated goal of providing voter access, money which many believe was ultimately used for partisan voter turnout. Since then, 28 states have banned this dark money influence, but Minnesota House Democrats weren’t interested, opposing a measure that would have done just that.
Jacob noted that provisions that would have prevented nonprofits that receive government funds from spending that money on political campaigns were also blocked, as were initiatives that would have brought more security to our election system.
When combined with new laws approved last session that give illegal immigrants free health insurance, free college, and free drivers’ licenses, and a bill this session that would make Minnesota a sanctuary state, Jacob said there is little reason to doubt the direction Minnesota is headed.
“All of this is being done with intent, and there is little here to suggest our election system is now more safe and secure for legal Minnesota citizens,” Jacob said.
The election legislation now heads to the Minnesota Senate for further debate.