Following his veto of the Republican Legislature's budget, anti-abortion legislation and his symbolic veto of their marriage constitutional amendment, Gov. Mark Dayton Thursday vetoed their move to require voters to have photo identification when they go to the polls.
"The push to require photo identification in order to vote has been based on the premise that voter fraud is a significant problem in Minnesota. I do not believe that is the case," the DFL governor wrote in his veto letter.
Interestingly, in his veto letter, Dayton quotes from a veto letter from former Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty. In Pawlenty's 2009 veto of an elections bill from a Democratic Legislature, he wrote "Omnibus election bills making changes to our election process should be bipartisan." Dayton repeated that mantra in his 2011 veto of the elections bill from a Republican Legislature.
The DFL governor offered some sugar as he doused Republican's voter ID hopes with vinegar. He ordered the formation of a bipartisan Election Integrity task force. Read the executive order to create the task force here.
According to records from the Minnesota reference library, Dayton has vetoed as many bills in his first year as former Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed in his entire first term.
Read the veto letter:
