As a military veteran and mother of two military members, I’m strongly for the voter ID constitutional amendment to ensure that we can have fair and honest elections in our state. I usually never write letters to the editor, but with all the misinformation that has been going around that military members and others won’t be able to vote, I feel strongly that people should not let the anti-voter ID groups use scare tactics in order to sway their opinion.

As for the misinformation about the military being “disenfranchised,” military voting is governed by overriding federal laws such as The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, the Help America Vote Act and the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act, which would supersede any state statutes or constitutional provisions, and therefore, the amendment can’t change that.

Active-duty military members wanting to vote in the Minnesota elections will simply get an absentee ballot and provide their ID number on the envelope, just as they do now.

To find out more about this issue, I urge voters to please go to: www.protectmyvote.com.

Please remember that if you leave the amendment question blank — if you don’t vote either yes or no — that will automatically be considered a no vote so please make an effort to find the amendment on your ballot and vote yes!

Thank you!

 

Lisa Gerboth

Rochester