Its demise would be a likely practical effect of the voter ID requirement.
At times the debate over the voter ID constitutional amendment has seemed like the 2006 race for secretary of state all over again.
There were Mary Kiffmeyer, the 2006 GOP incumbent, arguing that Election Day registration as practiced in Minnesota puts election integrity in peril, and Mark Ritchie, the 2006 DFL challenger and 2012 incumbent, defending the ability to register to vote on Election Day.
You ask: Election Day registration? Isn't this fight about whether you need to swipe your driver's license when you sign in at the polls?
That's what you'd conclude from the question the House bill would put on the ballot: "Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to require all voters to present valid photo identification on Election Day and that the state provide free identification to eligible voters?"
But the House version of the bill (the Senate's is being debated at this writing) contains language for the Constitution itself that's more sweeping. A key sentence: "All voters must be subject to substantially equivalent eligibility verification prior to a ballot being cast or counted."
