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Press Release: REPUBLICAN PARTY OF MINNESOTA LAUNCHES “PROTECT DEMOCRACY: RETIRE RITCHIE” FACEBOOK GROUP

Time to Retire the Most Partisan & Ineffective Secretary of State in America

St. Paul- On the one year anniversary of the 2008 election, Republican Party of Minnesota Chairman Tony Sutton today announced that the Party is launching the Facebook group “Protect Democracy: Retire Ritchie” to retire DFL Secretary of State Mark Ritchie in 2010.

“One year after the 2008 election laid bare serious problems with Minnesota’s elections system, it’s clear that Mark Ritchie hasn’t learned a thing.  After KSTP again revealed disparate treatment of absentee ballots and local officials confirmed there were major issues with the way the election was handled, Ritchie still won’t acknowledge his failure to properly train election officials.  With statewide voter turnout down in 2008 and turnout down in Minnesota’s two largest cities this year, perhaps people are not voting because they fear their ballot may not be counted.  Given his status as the most partisan and ineffective secretary of state in America, it’s time to retire Mark Ritchie and restore public confidence in the office of secretary of state.”

Click here to join the group:  http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=201872641123

Top 10 Reasons To Retire Ritchie:

#1:  Ritchie Is Strong Ally Of Notorious Group ACORN:

Ritchie Is Strong ACORN Ally. “Mr. Ritchie is also an ally of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or Acorn, of fraudulent voter-registration fame. That relationship might explain why prior to the election Mr. Ritchie waved off evidence of thousands of irregularities on Minnesota voter rolls, claiming that accusations of fraud were nothing more than ‘desperateness’ from Republicans.” (Editorial, “Mischief In Minnesota?” Wall Street Journal, November 12, 2008)

Ritchie Still Boasts ACORN Endorsement On Campaign Website. (www.markritchie06.net/endorsements.htm, accessed September 16, 2009)

#2:  Ritchie Won’t Accept Any Responsibility For Failing To Train Election Officials:

Click Here To Watch KSTP Investigation

KSTP Investigation Reveals Problems With Ritchie’s Administration Of 2008 Election. “A 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS investigation has found that mistakes made with absentee ballots in the contentious 2008 U.S. Senate recount between Al Franken and Norm Coleman are leading to changes in the way many votes will be counted in future elections.”  (“INVESTIGATION: Election Mistakes Lead to Changes in Vote Counting,” KSTP, http://kstp.com/news/stories/S1222327.shtml?cat=1, October 30, 2009)

KSTP: “Ritchie First Told Us He Could Not Read Our Examples, Then Said He Wouldn’t Look At Photocopies Of Absentee Ballot Envelopes.”  (“INVESTIGATION: Election Mistakes Lead to Changes in Vote Counting,” KSTP, http://kstp.com/news/stories/S1222327.shtml?cat=1, October 30, 2009)

Ritchie To KSTP When Confronted With Evidence Of Clear Absentee Ballot Disparities:  “You Would Have Had To Tell Me To Bring My Glasses.”        (“INVESTIGATION: Election Mistakes Lead to Changes in Vote Counting,” KSTP, http://kstp.com/news/stories/S1222327.shtml?cat=1, October 30, 2009)

Editorial: Ritchie Responsible For “Mess” Regarding Election Officials’ Lack Of Training. “Except for a few extreme partisans, I think most Minnesotans want to be sure that all legal votes are counted. However, I doubt now that we will ever know if that happened. Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, as the  chief election officer of the state, is responsible for the mess along with a number of county auditors and city election officials. Part of Ritchie’s job is to train the county auditors, and in the larger cities the city clerk or chief election officials, how to conduct a fair election. It’s the job of those he trains to then teach the election judges their duties. It’s clear that as teachers, Ritchie and some others are lacking.” (Editorial, “After The Recount, The Secretary Of State Has Some Explaining To Do,” Morrison County Record, January 16, 2009)

#3: Voter Turnout Down With Ritchie At Helm:

Candidate Ritchie Promised To Boost Voter Turnout.  “Both Ritchie and Sande accused Kiffmeyer of using her office to discourage, rather than ease, voting. ‘Instead of working to help eligible citizens vote, our secretary of state often put up barriers or tried to intimidate those working to help register voters by threatening lawsuits and legal actions,’ Ritchie said.”  (Patrick Sweeney, “Ritchie gets secretary of state nod,” Pioneer Press, June 12, 2006)

Secretary Of State Elect Ritchie Promised To Increase Voter Turnout.  “‘We need to be a beacon for democracy,’ Ritchie told cheering supporters early Wednesday.   ‘We need to show others in the country what it means to invite people in, and for people to know their votes were counted and they were counted properly. We’ve got major elections coming in ‘08, in 2010. Every person needs to know that their vote is safe and secure.’”  (Steve Karnowski, “DFL sweeps attorney general, secretary of state, auditor races,” Associated Press, November 8, 2006)

But Turnout Fell Under Ritchie.  Turnout from 2004 Presidential election to 2008 presidential election shows turnout went from 78.77 percent to 78.49 percent.  (Minnesota Secretary of State Website, Minnesota election statistics 1950-2008, http://www.sos.state.mn.us/index.aspx?page=137, Accessed November 4, 2009)

Ritchie Failed To Meet Goal Of Increasing Turnout In 2008.  “Citizen participation in our democracy is the key to keeping our communities and nation strong. This office has set a goal of achieving 80 percent turnout of eligible voters in the 2008 General Election…” (Secretary of State Website, http://www.sos.state.mn.us/index.aspx?page=904, Accessed November 4, 2009)

2009 City Elections In Minneapolis & St. Paul Also Show Lower Turnout.

“With all 104 precincts reporting, Coleman received nearly 67 percent of the vote. Ng (pronounced “ing”) had 31 percent, according to unofficial results. With about 34,000 votes cast, turnout was the lowest for a city in a mayoral election since at least 1993. Since then, no race has fallen below 59,000 voters.”  (Dave Orrick, “Coleman scores a 2nd term as mayor in St. Paul,” Pioneer Press, November 4, 2009)
“He has called the job the highest honor a St. Paul kid can have, and Chris Coleman, born and raised in Minnesota’s capital city, will get to be mayor for a second term. …  Turnout was about 17 percent, said Joe Mansky, elections manager for Ramsey County. That is low compared with the 2005 election, when 28 percent of voters showed up, he added.” (Chris Havens,“Coleman wins second term as mayor by a 2-1 margin,” Star Tribune, November 4, 2009)
“Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak coasted to an easy victory Tuesday night…  Voters stayed away from the polls in droves, with turnouts down markedly from 2005, when two prominent DFLers, Rybak and Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin, battled for the office.”  (Steve Brandt, “Rybak wins a third term, but charter changes rejected,” Star Tribune, November 4, 2009)
#4: To Franken’s Benefit, Ritchie Flip-Flopped On Rejected Absentee Ballots:

Ritchie Adamantly Opposed Including Any Rejected Absentee Ballots In Recount. “Democrat Al Franken, locked in a tight Senate race headed to a statewide recount, sued Thursday for access to data on voters who had their absentee ballots rejected. … On Wednesday, Democratic Secretary of State Mark Ritchie said a voter with a rejected ballot or a campaign would have to go to court to contest the election for such a remedy — a process he said would fall outside the recount and canvass process.” (Brian Bakst, “Franken Seeks Access To Rejected Absentee Data,” Associated Press, November 14, 2008)

Ritchie: “Those Rejected Ballots Would Be Handled By A Court.” “Secretary of State Mark Ritchie said Thursday that the state would not consider rejected absentee ballots as it begins the recount of the 2.9 million votes cast in last week’s election. ‘Recount law is very specific about what is included,’ Ritchie said. ‘Under current law, those rejected ballots would be handled by a court.’” (Patricia Lopez, “Battle Of The Ballot Takes A New Twist,” Star Tribune, November 14, 2008)

Attorney General Opinion Requested By Ritchie Precluded Inclusion Of Any Rejected Absentee Ballots In Recount. “The Franken campaign filed a brief Monday asking the Canvassing Board to consider including improperly rejected absentee ballots in today’s official tally. Granting that request would make it practically impossible to proceed to the recount on Wednesday. However, the state attorney general’s office later issued a three-page opinion requested by Ritchie that said the board’s job today is purely administrative, not to determine the eligibility of a voter or whether absentee ballots were properly accepted.”  (Kevin Duchschere, Mike Kaszuba & Mark Brunswick, “Franken Asks To Have Rejected Absentee Ballots Be Considered,” Star Tribune, November 18, 2008)

Franken Supporter & Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman Proposed Plan To Count Rejected Absentee Ballots. “Also Tuesday, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman proposed a process for reconsidering rejected absentee ballots that would partly skirt the Canvassing Board: Have local elections officials review such ballots and identify those possibly improperly rejected. Freeman, a DFLer who backed Franken, said that he and Anoka County Attorney Bob Johnson worked on the plan after Secretary of State Mark Ritchie asked them and other county attorneys for ideas to improve the process.”  (Kevin Duchschere, “Lost, Found And Challenged,” Star Tribune, November 26, 2008)

Ritchie & Canvassing Board Unanimously Turned Down Franken Request To Include Rejected Absentees In Recount. “Democrat Al Franken suffered a setback Wednesday when the state Canvassing Board unanimously turned down his campaign’s request to include rejected absentee ballots in the U.S. Senate recount, prompting a Franken attorney to threaten to go all the way to Washington if necessary to get them considered.”  (Kevin Duchschere & Bob Von Sternberg, “Franken Loses Bid To Add Ballots,” Star Tribune, November 27, 2008)

Taking Freeman’s Advice, Ritchie Asked Counties To Create A Fifth Pile. “In a separate development, [Deputy Secretary of State Jim] Gelbmann asked counties to prepare five piles of rejected absentee ballots, categorized by each of the four statutory reasons for rejecting an absentee ballot and a fifth pile that the canvassing board could rule on next week. … The fifth category may be improperly rejected votes, which the Franken campaign believes total about 1,000 statewide and wants included in the recount. Gelbmann asked counties not to begin separating the rejected ballots until Monday. At this time, we are not asking you to open or count the votes contained in any of the five categories of rejected absentee ballots,’ he wrote. ‘We are simply looking for the number of rejected absentee ballots that were legitimately rejected … and the number of rejected absentee ballots that were mistakenly rejected.’”   (Jason Hoppin, Rachel E. Stassen-Berger & Maryjo Webster, “As End Of Recount Looms, Previously Lost Ballots From Maplewood Help Franken,” Pioneer Press, December 2, 2008)

Following New Opinion From Attorney General, Ritchie & Canvassing Board Issued Recommendation That “Fifth Pile” Ballots Should Be Counted During Recount. “The Canvassing Board received an opinion on Friday from Attorney General Lori Swanson saying that these ballots can be counted as part of the statewide recount. … Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, who chairs the board, said it is the unanimous recommendation of the board that counties reopen their counts ‘to correct these obvious errors and submit corrections to the Canvassing Board.’ He added: ‘Those are errors that can be fixed.’” (Editorial, “Reviewing The Tape,” Pioneer Press, December 13, 2008)

#5:  Ritchie Failed To Demand Uniform Standards From Supreme Court:

Ritchie Failed To Demand Uniformity Of Absentee Ballots. “In one of the Supreme Court rulings, it was decided that only the rejected ballots upon which the two campaigns agreed should be included in the recount. However, the campaigns have no special standing in this recount; it’s the people’s will and the integrity of the voting process that is in question. If Franken or Coleman objected to including a ballot, then the judgement of local officials, who had already acknowledged 1,346 mistakes, was allowed to stand. That the Secretary of State did not step in and ask the Supreme Court for statewide uniformity in determining whether ballots were wrongly rejected, reflects poorly on his leadership.”   (Editorial, “After The Recount, The Secretary Of State Has Some Explaining To Do,” Morrison County Record, January 16, 2009)

#6:  Ritchie Led Canvassing Board Inconsistent In Rulings Regarding Counting Of Ballots:

Board Was Inconsistent In Treatment Of Ballots. “In other cases, the board has been flagrantly inconsistent. Last month, Mr. Franken’s campaign charged that one Hennepin County (Minneapolis) precinct had ‘lost’ 133 votes, since the hand recount showed fewer ballots than machine votes recorded on Election Night. Though there is no proof to this missing vote charge — officials may have accidentally run the ballots through the machine twice on Election Night — the Canvassing Board chose to go with the Election Night total, rather than the actual number of ballots in the recount. That decision gave Mr. Franken a gain of 46 votes. Meanwhile, a Ramsey County precinct ended up with 177 more ballots than there were recorded votes on Election Night. In that case, the board decided to go with the extra ballots, rather than the Election Night total, even though the county is now showing more ballots than voters in the precinct. This gave Mr. Franken a net gain of 37 votes, which means he’s benefited both ways from the board’s inconsistency.” (Editorial, “Funny Business in Minnesota,” Wall Street Journal, January 5, 2009)

Supreme Court Justice And Canvassing Board Member:  “Dead Solid Certainty” That Some Votes Were Counted Twice. “Justice G. Barry Anderson said he thought it ‘a dead solid certainty’ that double votes were counted, but added he was uncertain that the board had the authority to do what Trimble asked.” (Kevin Duchschere, “Coleman’s Lead Over Franken Shrivels,” Star Tribune, December 19, 2008)

#7: Ritchie Led Canvassing Board Inconsistent In Application Of Standards:

Canvassing Board Applied Inconsistent Standards To Ballots. “Both campaigns have also suggested that Mr. Ritchie’s office made mistakes in tabulating votes that had been challenged by either of the campaigns. And the Canvassing Board appears to have applied inconsistent standards in how it decided some of these challenged votes — in ways that, again on net, have favored Mr. Franken.”   (Editorial, “Funny Business in Minnesota,” Wall Street Journal, January 5, 2009)

#8: Ritchie Cashed In On Recount With Fundraising Emails:

Ritchie Sent Out A Slew Of “Recount Update” Emails To Supporters With A Link Provided For Donations. “Minnesota’s Senate race is headed into the next stage – the State Canvassing Board. For an update on some of the latest info – watch this CBS News report. For the latest public opinion on the race and the recount check out Survey USA – KSTP’s new poll.”   (Mark Ritchie 2010 Email, December 10, 2008)

#9: Ritchie Attacked Coleman Campaign: “Their Goal Is To Win At Any Price”:

Ritchie Attacks Coleman Campaign For Trying To “Win At Any Price.” “Asked about the Coleman campaign’s criticism of the recanvassing process, Ritchie said: ‘Their goal is to win at any price. They’ve invested millions and millions of dollars. We consider this part of the normal political rhetoric,’ said Ritchie. ‘We’re used to the political rhetoric being amped up. That’s part of their job — to win at any price.’”  (“MN Secretary Of State: Coleman’s Goal ‘To Win At Any Price,’” Politico.com, http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/1108/MN_Secretary_of_state_Colemans_goal_to_win_at_any_price.html, November 12, 2008)

#10: Ritchie Has Used His Office For Political Purposes:

After Lying, Ritchie Finally Admitted Providing State Lists To His Campaign. “Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie now says that he personally gave his campaign a list of participants in a state-sponsored ‘civic engagement’ program so it could send them a campaign newsletter that asked for a political contribution. Ritchie, a DFLer, was elected on a platform of de-politicizing the office, which supervises elections. He has been under fire since two Republican activists who attended the office’s publicly funded event filed a complaint over having their e-mail addresses turned over to Ritchie’s political operation. Previously, Ritchie had denied knowing how the campaign got the list. He now insists that it solicited contributions only to pay for the newsletter itself. But its text invites recipients to an upcoming campaign fundraiser.” (Mark Brunswick, “Ritchie Now Says He Gave E-Mail List To Campaign,” Star Tribune, November 21, 2007)

CONTACT: MARK DRAKE
651-842-0115 (WORK)
651-472-3978 (CELL)