Al Franken May Have Won His Senate Seat Through Voter Fraud

If I wanted to be lied to with made-up right wing crap like this, I'd go to the Fox website.

USNWR, you really should be ashamed.

Better yet, you should start to insist on minimum journalistic standards. You know, like you used to back when I subscribed for all of those years. No way I'd write a check for this kind of drivel.

jimatmadison of WI 8:43PM July 21, 2010

State laws barring convicted felons from voting is probably a violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment and probably others parts of the constitution as well. Once a person pays his debt to society, they should have the same rights as everyone else. There is no reason they should be denied the right to vote.

State laws that bar felons from voting have a "disparate impact" because they penalize minorities more. It is an obvious conservative attempt to disenfranchise Black people. According to one report, "In 2004, one in eight black men were unable to vote because of a felony conviction, the report said, a rate many times higher than that for other groups. Felony convictions have left one in four black men barred from voting in five states: Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Virginia and Wyoming, said Ryan S. King, author of the report and a policy analyst at the Sentencing Project." For this reason several states have repealed the lifetime ban on voting rights for felons.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/12/us/12felons.html

Many current state laws are unjust; 12 states permanently ban some or all categories of felons from voting for life in their states. Most of them are southern states. Minnesota allows felons to vote so long as they are free and not on probation or parole. This is how the law now works in the majority of states.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-05-31-felons-voting-rights_x.htm#table

Many officials in MN doubt the validity of the MM report.

"According to a report released two weeks ago by Minnesota Majority, 1,359 names of suspected ineligible felons were forwarded to these two counties for investigation. But local and state officials say the group's reports are likely inflated and hard to verify because of difficulties determining whether the suspected felon voters had their voting rights restored, if they knew they were ineligible to vote, or if they were actually the people whose names appear on voter rolls."

http://www.startribune.com/politics/local/98276584.html

Though it is far from proven that felons won the election for Franken, it is also true that most Felons have a hard time voting making it unlikely that MN "felon voting fraud" occurred. Studies show felon voter turnout is below the national average.

That number is all the more stark when one consider that estimates of felon turnout range from a low of 20.5 percent (for the 1974 congressional elections) to a high of 39 percent (for the 1992 presidential election), with an average estimated felon turnout of about 24 percent in non-presidential year Senate elections and about 35 percent in presidential election years.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-fauntroy-phd/conservatives-and-black-v_b_51338.html

In Aug. 2009, a "Restore Your Voice" campaign to register felons who could vote legally began. Those still on parole or probation were excluded.

http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/newsroom/200808/20080820-ma_RestoreYourVoice.asp

steve of IL 6:25PM July 21, 2010

I suspect Mr. Roff was rarely on his school's honor role, based on his spelling.

ray Weghorst of AR 2:50PM July 21, 2010

what I find most fascinating is that folks are just now getting all "up in arms" over obvious voter fraud, when across the Nation voter fraud reigns ... redistricing always favors incumbants - it's designed that way ... many States (especially this one) not only do not require a photo ID in order to vote, they prosecute poll workers that even suggest a voter identify himself/herself for voter elligibilty purposes ... we are rife with fraud - it is so common as to be "normal" ... and with all of this, still people are content to allow it to go on, particularly when the fraud helps those of their own political party

Cap'n Teach of CA 12:20PM July 21, 2010