Welcome to the State of Democracy Website
The State of Democracy project seeks to improve the current state of our democratic institutions. We work with partners across the state to improve the health of our democracy, provide nonpartisan information and resources to citizens, and offer solutions to current issues.
What's Happening Now?
Citizens Commission on Redistricting
From MPR
The League of Women Voters, the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and other groups will hold a series of public meetings in hopes of drawing a new Minnesota political map. The first citizen meeting will be held Saturday afternoon at Minnesota Council of Nonprofits’ offices at 1pm at 2314 University Avenue in St. Paul. Other meetings will be held across the state in coming weeks.
Input from the meetings will be used to propose several maps in September, says Laura Fredrick Wang, with the League of Woman Voters.
“These maps really define political power for the next ten years,” Wang said. “The people who can tell you best what their community looks like, where people work in their community, where they go to school, where they live in their community and how they relate to each other are the people who live there. And if you don’t get out and talk to those people and get a really broad range of input, it’s really hard to capture a community.” Read more...
Citizen Commission Members
Visit Draw the Line Minnesota for upcoming events and information.
Photo ID Will Not Improve Election Integrity
Allegations of voter fraud usually get big headlines. What does not get headlines is the fact that nearly all allegations of voter fraud turn out to be clerical errors, data matching mistakes, or misunderstandings.
In reality, voter fraud is extremely rare.
There are no known cases of voter impersonation in Minnesota. This is the fraud that photo ID could prevent.
In the 2008 U.S. Senate election recount, lawyers for both candidates looked for fraud in the election. They found none.
Creating different requirements for city elections will lead to confusion, not integrity.
Our system has many checks and balances in place that ensure integrity in the system. Most voters do not see the behind-the-scenes processes and procedures that make sure that the names of voters that appear on the voting rosters are legitimate.
Voting fraud is a felony. Anyone who votes illegally could be fined up to $10,000 and receive up to 5 years in jail.
More information on election integrity and voter fraud
The Truth About Voter Fraud, Brennan Center for Justice
The Politics of Voter Fraud, by Lorraine C. Minnite, Ph.D.
The Myth of Voter Fraud, MinnPost
From Draw the Line Minnesota:
Recent News
Campaign finance watchdog says those to be picked for deficit panel shouldn't keep fundraising-August 4, 2011
Debt committee must be transparent-August 3, 2011
The answer to gridlock-prone political system? Redistricting- August 3, 2011
Ethics, politics, and the Supreme Court-July 29, 2011
Partisanship of session left bad taste with many-July 26, 2011
Redistricting- Minnesota's next challenge: not just for insiders anymore- July 19, 2011
The politics behind new voter ID laws-July 18, 2011
Census finds age gap with Minnesota whites, minorities- July 14, 2011
Census data show potenial for rising demand on state government- July 14, 2011
Full 8th Circuit to hear Minnesota disclosure law case-July 13, 2011
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League of Women Voters Education Fund with generous funding from the Joyce Foundation, runs the State of Democracy Program.