I hope this doesn't surprise anyone.  My only surprise is the low    
   number, 341.   
      
      
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   http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/12/felons-voting-illegally-   
   franken-minnesota-study-finds/   
      
   Felons Voting Illegally May Have Put Franken Over the Top in Minnesota,    
   Study Finds   
   By Ed Barnes   
      
   Published July 12, 2010   
      
      
   The six-month election recount that turned former "Saturday Night Live"    
   comedian Al Franken into a U.S. senator may have been decided by    
   convicted felons who voted illegally in Minnesota's Twin Cities.    
      
   That's the finding of an 18-month study conducted by Minnesota Majority,    
   a conservative watchdog group, which found that at least 341 convicted    
   felons in largely Democratic Minneapolis-St. Paul voted illegally in the    
   2008 Senate race between Franken, a Democrat, and his Republican    
   opponent, then-incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman.    
      
   The final recount vote in the race, determined six months after Election    
   Day, showed Franken beat Coleman by 312 votes -- fewer votes than the    
   number of felons whose illegal ballots were counted, according to    
   Minnesota Majority's newly released study, which matched publicly    
   available conviction lists with voting records.    
      
   Furthermore, the report charges that efforts to get state and federal    
   authorities to act on its findings have been "stonewalled."    
      
   "We aren't trying to change the result of the last election. That    
   legally can't be done," said Dan McGrath, Minnesota Majority's executive    
   director. "We are just trying to make sure the integrity of the next    
   election isn't compromised."    
      
   He said his group was largely ignored when it turned over a list of    
   hundreds of names to prosecutors in two of the state's largest counties,    
   Ramsey and Hennepin, where fraud seemed to be the greatest.    
      
   A spokesman for both county attorneys' offices belittled the    
   information, saying it was "just plain wrong" and full of errors, which    
   prompted the group to go back and start an in-depth look at the records.    
      
   "What we did this time is irrefutable," McGrath said. "We took the    
   voting lists and matched them with conviction lists and then went back    
   to the records and found the roster lists, where voters sign in before    
   walking to the voting booth, and matched them by hand.    
      
   "The only way we can be wrong is if someone with the same first, middle    
   and last names, same year of birth as the felon, and living in the same    
   community, has voted. And that isn't very likely."    
      
   The report said that in Hennepin County, which in includes Minneapolis,    
   899 suspected felons had been matched on the county's voting records,    
   and the review showed 289 voters were conclusively matched to felon    
   records. The report says only three people in the county have been    
   charged with voter fraud so far.    
      
   A representative of the Hennepin County attorney's office, who declined    
   to give her name, said "there was no one in the office today to talk    
   about the charges."    
      
   But the report got a far different review in Ramsey County, which    
   contains St. Paul. Phil Carruthers of the Ramsey County attorney's    
   office said his agency had taken the charges "very seriously" and found    
   that the Minnesota Majority "had done a good job in their review."    
      
   The report says that in Ramsey, 460 names on voting records were matched    
   with felon lists, and a further review found 52 were conclusive matches.    
      
   Carruthers attributed differences in the numbers to Minnesota Majority's    
   lack of access to nonpublic information, such as exact birth dates and    
   other court records. For example, he said, "public records might show a    
   felon was given 10 years probation, but internal records the county    
   attorney has might show that the probation period was cut to five and    
   the felon was eligible to vote."    
      
   Carruthers said Ramsey County is still investigating all the names and    
   has asked that 15 investigators be hired to complete the process. "So    
   far we have charged 28 people with felonies, have 17 more under review    
   and have 182 cases still open," he said. "And there is a good chance we    
   may match or even exceed their numbers."    
      
   McGrath says the report shows that more still has to be done.    
      
   "Prosecutors have to act more swiftly in prosecuting cases from the 2008    
   election to deter fraud in the future," he said, "and the state has to    
   make sure that existing system, that flags convicted felons so voting    
   officials can challenge them at the ballot, is effective. In 90 percent    
   of the cases we looked at, the felons weren't flagged."    
      
   "If the state had done that," he said, "things might be very different    
   today."   
      
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