The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

The Rat will be the first to say Vote Democrat!

And I predict that every one of those accusations will turn out to be absolutely correct.

where do I find where to vote? I'm still kinda new in town ...

oh well crap. I was told I could register today with a utility bill, but the state website says I have to have either a military ID or a passport with the utility bill. All I have is a california DL and a birth certificate (also from CA).

So basically I don't get to vote now, right?

I guess I could get my neighbour to 'vouch' for me if he's home before the vote's over with.

uh, yeah .... no. that was rude, uncalled for and generally stupid. But then I expect no more from you.

Good signs on election day: I am usually the first voter at my polling place. Today when I arrived at 6:50 a.m., a dozen people were already waiting in line. Saw more "sigh wavers" on the road than usual. Both led me to conclude that voters are energized this year and I predict a higher than usual turnout, even by Minnesota standards.

Without a passport, your options do get pretty slim...

In theory, it would be enough to beg anyone at the poll station to vouch, but you might want to start with a neighbor -- and I know that's awkward enough.

Your other way around that is to *apply* for a Minnesota ID/DL today, because the receipt is just as valid as the card itself. That's also going to involve going to the gub'ment center, and applying for a state ID/DL, and I'm sure you don't have all day for that.

yeah, the whole reason I don't have a local ID/DL already is because their hours suck major ass and I actually work for a living. Taking a day off work to stand in a queue is not quite an appealing thing to me. Plus my CA DL doesn't expire until halfaway through next year so I'm just like "why bother?"

I guess I know why to bother now ):

It won't help you today, but the Hennepin County Service Center in the basement of the Midtown building is open on Saturdays. I've been there twice since it opened and there were no lines. Actually, it might be faster to go there on a weekday too, so it might help you today. They are open until 6pm tonight.

HCSC

TMayham: As I recall, all MN licence offices will be kept open until polls close today just to deal with situations such as the one you are facing. You will have to make two trips instead of one, but it can (and should) be done.

Good luck!

I think that if tmay showed up at the polls with a valid CA license and a current utilility bill, they will let him vote. It's always been incredibly easy for me, even when moving around a lot.

Matt--

You mean these calls?

Tmay, did you not know you wanted to vote today? Why didn't you look into what was needed to vote before today? Did the election catch you by surprise?

And those pesky service centers, with their quick service and evening and weekend hours...

oops. "Am I" the only one?

black java, I almost voted no. I was against a constitutional amendment--thought it was sort of a trivial thing to amend the const. for. But then I realized that this state needs soem serious help in transportaion, and I'm just not sure anything would have happened that would provide that help without this measure.

"but I don't want politicians to weasel out of being responsible for making decisions. This is a republic and we elect people to decide how to run the government"

Word.

I voted no.

I predict history will judge Michelle Bachman to be the biggest laughingstock in the history of Minnesota politics.

I predict Keith Ellison will be become a national political force within 4 years and eventually make a successful run for the Senate.

I predict Amy K. will underwhelm and Kennedy will eventually get busted for child porn possession.

I predict Polenta will win and continue to drive good people from this state, continue to ruin the education and transit systems and reinstate the Death Penalty which will become his only (horrible) legacy.

Yeah I knew it was going to be an issue, but I'd already discussed it with someone who had experience and I was under the impression I could get away with my out of state ID and a utility bill. It wasn't until I was looking up my local polling place today that I spied the rules and saw that I needed a passport instead.

I also really don't understand all the sudden animosity for the transportation amendment. It was getting a lot of support until the last week or two and everyone just changed their mind about it. Was there some kind of exposé I missed?

Tmay, my girlfriend registered with an out of state ID and a utility bill.

I'm glad I'm not alone on this one. Here's the wording that kills me...with a minimum of 40% of the funds used for local and regional public transit.

Doesn't that mean public transit funding could go as high as 100%? Maybe I'm just confused? What about our roads and highways? What about greater MN?

The farther you are in poximity to metro transit the more this could potentially suck. Do we really want to amend our constitution based on that kind of wording? I think its misleading to people who just glance it over. This amendment stinks if you ask me.

Has anyone heard about republicans pretending to be democrats

some of my dearest friends do that every weekend in a futile attempt to pick up sexually liberated women.

Some Flickr photos from today from around the country. Lots of pictures of signage in different languages, among other things.

Well, we swap gender roles depending on mood.

It's nice to see they're keeping illegals out of the polling places.

):

max they wouldn't let me register with my out of state ID

and one of the poll workers was being a huge dick to me about it

"oh hey, nice ID, take it back. Yeah it's lovely, but all its good for is a coaster"

Thanks jagoff! Way to make light of the fact that now I probably won't get to vote! My neighbour I was going to try to get to vouch for me works late and might not even be home by the time the polls close at 8! Sweet!

So I'm disenfranchised now and dude was mocking me about it.

"Yeah, you can keep your electric bill too, but you'd better pay it or they'll turn your electricity off!"

No shit? Wow, that's funny, I thought it was just to make me feel good and get me registered to vote ... oh wait, it does neither of those things.

The wording sucks on the amendment. The whole 60/40 thing is bunk, I agree. That said, our roads/transit aren't going to get funded with the current crop of legislators. We need to pass that amendment.

tmay: Your best bet is a vouch. Find someone, anyone to vouch for you.

Yeah--there's a chance somebody here might be able to vouch!

Or you should be able to call up one of the parties and they might be able to find people from your neighborhood who can vouch for you.

And, seriously, get the name of the dude who treated you like that at the poll.

I once found someone to vouch for me on a message board after being rejected in the morning. Apparently my registration card had not made it through the process and I was never put on the list. Didn't have a utility bill or current ID.

You can always knock on your neighbors' doors - someone's bound to recognize you as the guy from down the hall and go to the polls with you.

I voted for the transportation amendment. Too bad for schools, etc., but nothing's stopping them from organizing to get their slice of the pie.

No to the terrible constitutional amendment. If the legislature cannot decide, and the governor cannot decide how to spend the tax dollars, then we should de-elect them on a day like today. There shouldn't be an automatic fund because it will likely get over funded and then what happens to that money?

It shouldn't be as easy as getting any asshat off the street to vouch for you just because your going to vote for the same bunk people/policy.

Yes it should.

you would have to punch him really really hard in the cock to kill him. Like Mike Hatch hard.

ps, yes, let's make voting as difficult and time-consuming as possible! That's the right way to make sure people are well-represented in government!

democracy in action! keep lots of legitimate voters out in the dark on the off chance some illegitimate ones might sneak in!

I think that the reason for having a Minnesota ID is to prevent "vote early, vote often". Not that it would be impossible to cross-check a driver's license number of someone who did same-day registration with an out-of-state ID, but of course laws vary from state to state, so whoever it is that goes through and verifies that the registration cards are legit might be able to get data from one state but not another. Keeping it all in Minnesota works.

Of course, getting someone to vouch might be the easiest thing. I had thought that the person vouching had to be pre-registered, but apparently they can do same-day registration and then vouch for someone. Or maybe the poll worker I overheard this morning was smoking something.

Minnesota is very relaxed about registration compared to the rest of the country.

mulad: Where did you vote that you heard that? You might have been next to me...I voted over lunch and registered with my MN drivers license with my new address, and asked if I could vouch for my fiance since even though I registered that day. They said I could. Was planning on having my buddy do it for her but now I will just go with her.

I hope she doesn't get jealous of Tmay's invitation to eat his ass....

Sadly dotty no MN does not require that, surprising enough as it is. Don't want to disenfranchise all those people out there that can't afford to be bothered to go out and get an ID.

tublecane: I voted at The Burlington on Energy Park Drive.

I'm attempting to live blog from the DFL party HQ, if anyone cares. They have 4 TV screens up: CNN, MSNBC, Comedy Central, and MNPublius.com.

I'm going to spend the evening riveted to the Goode-Weed congressional race in Virginia's 5th district. Perhaps ordering a pizza will be in order.

I thought the mentally incompetent were prevented from voting.