Voter ID: The More You Know, The Less You Like It
On first hearing, voter ID laws sound like an obvious and innocent idea. After all, don’t you need ID for everything else these days? So it’s not surprising that 80 percent of Minnesotans polled last year said they favored a proposed state ballot measure that would have required voters to present a government-issued photo ID before voting.
But then progressive groups launched a massive education campaign, telling people what it would really mean. And despite starting 60 points behind in the polls, come Election Day they defeated the measure by a 54-to-46 margin.
Dan McGrath, executive director of TakeAction Minnesota, the citizens group that led the campaign against the measure, said his team didn’t have the luxury of trying to persuade undecided voters or improve turnout. They had to change people’s minds.
