Federal prosecutors are closing in on prosecuting more than 100 Minnesotans for rampant fraud in several social service programs designed to serve children and low-income residents.
By the time the US Attorney’s office is done investigating, charging, convicting, and sentencing these felons, this unchecked fraud will significantly increase Minnesota’s prison population.
But there’s one other form of fraud that has likely existed for decades in Minnesota that no one has done anything to prevent and that’s voting fraud.
Voting is a sacred honor. Our election laws must make it easy to vote but hard to cheat. Minnesota’s election laws have recently been called “one of the worst in the nation” and our same-day voter registration via our “vouching” policy is just one policy that has earned us this dubious honor.
With hundreds of state-based fraud investigations underway, the 2026 legislature should use this opportunity to expand confidence in Minnesota elections by enacting changes to existing Minnesota election law that would make it hard to cheat.
They should start with these proposals:
- Same-day voter registration via the “vouching” system must be rolled back prior to the partisan changes made by in 2023 DFL-trifecta so that one voter in one precinct cannot vouch for eight additional voters.
- Same-day registrants must be issued a provisional ballot. Once their registration and eligibility are verified as legitimate, their ballot can be processed.
- Voters must show a form of an approved state identification card to receive a ballot. This is a no-brainer for most Americans: Recent polling shows that 74% of registered voters support a nationwide photo ID law while just 16% oppose. While Congress works on passing the SAVE ACT that will require a photo ID to vote in future national elections, Minnesota needs to make sure that only eligible voters are voting in our state and local elections. Trust but verify should be our policy going forward and most voters – Republicans, Independents or Democrats support this policy.
- The Legislature must not allow statewide Ranked Choice Voting nor allow any additional cities to adopt this dubious and confusing form of voting.
And that’s just for starters.
The right to vote is a sacred honor. Let’s make sure that Minnesota election results don’t become the next “front page failure” of the Walz Administration to make national news.