After today’s developments, Ritchie to speak on fair elections up north

Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie headlines a civil liberty conference Wednesday, April 8, at Itasca Community College in Grand Rapids. Ritchie’s nonpartisan address about the importance of free and fair elections will come 24 hours after today’s court ordered counting of just under 400 more U.S. Senate ballots now deemed admissible. As of this morning, Al Franken led Norm Coleman by 225 votes. (UDPATE: After the counting this afternoon, Franken wins the election by 312 votes with only a couple minor issues to sort out).

Ritchie has received widespread bipartisan accolades for the way he handled Minnesota’s complicated and frustrating U.S. Senate race between Coleman and Franken. Though the legal process allowed under Minnesota’s “be extra, extra sure” election law could drag out for some time, the counting and the due process were expertly and fairly observed by Ritchie. Now people have a chance to ask him questions and hear his perspective on how this news story fits into the common American value of free and fair elections.

The conference starts at 9 a.m. at ICC and will feature numerous presenters and a forum involving representatives of local political parties explaining their perspective on top civil liberties issues. Ritchie’s presentation is at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the college theater. The conference is a nonpartisan event that will explore many aspects of civil liberties, from human rights to personal freedoms. The event is free and open to the public.

Local DFLers are holding a 3:30 p.m. reception for Ritchie at the Itasca County DFL headquarters on Highway 169.

(Disclosure: I am a central committee director for the Itasca County DFL but write this independently).

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