Northern Minnesota split shows how amendments went down

Early in the election season I had a conversation with a local organizer for Minnesotans United for All Families, the group fighting the proposed Marriage Amendment that failed Tuesday. Her task was to convince voters on the socially conservative Iron Range to vote against the amendment despite polls showing it running very strong in northern Minnesota.

Here is the result of Tuesday’s vote in Northeastern Minnesota:

As you can see from this Chris Saunders map of results from Tuesday’s vote, the Marriage amendment passed in most rural northern precincts, but failed slightly in several towns along the Iron Range. Though the amendment appears to have passed in Hibbing, where the debate was very contentious, it failed in Chisholm, Virginia, Eveleth and Gilbert.

Duluth voted nearly 2-1 against the amendment. Cook County, in the far northeast, also voted strongly against the amendment. The Marriage Amendment did very well in Itasca and Koochiching counties, which are more socially conservative.

I do think that when the debate started this entire region was inclined to vote 2-1 in favor of the amendment. The shift from last winter to now shows the work amendment opponents did to convince voters otherwise. But it’s clear that this DFL-leaning area is still more socially conservative than other DFL areas.

For comparison, here is the voting on the Voter ID amendment, which also failed on Tuesday:

It was an across-the-board crushing defeat for the Voter ID amendment in northern Minnesota, probably making up for “Yes” votes in more Republican areas.

Thanks to Chris Saunders for the maps, as always.

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