Early Birds: Bob Alexander and Mike Palm were first to arrive this morning. We had 18 in person and 8 via ZOOM attend.
Guests: John Quinn and Steve Simon.
Honorary Members: Mark Simon, Karen Holtmeier, Dick Lindskoog, Ron Britz, and Dick Nelson were in attendance.
President Jim Erickson brought the meeting to order with a ring of the bell and a moment of silence.
Announcements
- ZOOM link is https://us04web.zoom.us/j/8372506494?pwd=RStMTVU4bVVDTU0vZU5UdXNSWTZoQT09 or meeting ID 837 250 6494 password is Breakfast
- We have craft talk openings available in November and December. Please contact Craig Blixrud to get on the calendar or with your ideas for craft talks.
- Today’s presidential attire…..
Pot of Gold: Steve Simon drew Joe Kankovsky’s name with the 5th card
Business Exchange/Sharing: Lots of members had something to share today as we went around from table to table.
Craft Talk
Jim Erickson introduced Steve Simon, Minnesota’s Secretary of State. Steve spent 10 years as a state legislator and has spent the last 6 as Secretary of State. He is a Democrat.
A couple fun facts about Steve are that 1) His father was Ron Simon, a well-known attorney and Sports Agent, and 2) He was a close personal friend of Sid Hartman via his father and he often talked to Sid at dinnertime as Sid called regularly for scoops when he was a young boy.
Steve focused his talk on the upcoming election as his department is in charge of seeing that the election goes smoothly statewide and that all applicable laws are followed.
Statewide we expect to have 3 million voters place votes in this election at about 3000 polling places. That is about 74% of eligible voters in Minnesota and we lead the nation in voter participation. By contrast, only about 50% of Hawaii’s eligible voters vote, which is the worst in the nation.
Earlier this year looking at the COVID-19 pandemic, the state decided to push for more absentee/early voting to alleviate crowding at the polls. In 2018, 25% of Minnesota voters had voted absentee or early. This year there have been 1.4 million requests for absentee ballots and 900,000 filled out and returned to date. It may be that 60%+ of voters vote by absentee or early in this election. You have until November 3rd to get your ballot filled out and mailed. It must be received by November 10 to be counted. You can check on your ballot progress online at www.MNVOTES.org .
Some interesting facts about voting in Minnesota;
- There are 3 ways to identify your ballot and keep it valid. They are; Barcode, Personal ID (such as Last 4 SSN or Driver’s License), and signature.
- The 87 counties do the counting of ballots and they can start as early as 14 days before the election. No totals are available until polls have closed on election day.
- A recent court case estimated that less than .000004% of votes cast since 1979 in Minnesota were fraudulent.
- 30,000 Poll workers are needed to man the 3000 polling locations from 7 AM until 8 PM on November 3. That does not include the up to 4 authorized poll watchers (appointed in writing by the 4 major parties) per polling locations. Poll watchers are not allowed within 6 feet of voters/ballots/voting machines.
- Any challenges to a ballot must be in writing.
- Law enforcement cannot “guard” a polling location and any political campaigning cannot be within 100 feet of a polling location to avoid voter intimidation.
- The state has issued guidelines and PPE to be used at polling locations to address voter health concerns.
An excellent speaker and lots of good information. BE SURE TO VOTE!
Please register with Jim Erickson at Jim@solomonssg.com or 612-325-3009.
Looking ahead
October 28 – Christensen Group (Mark Ahmann) @ECC
November 4 – TBD (pls sign up)
November 11- Boulay @ECC
November 18- Continental Diamond @ECC