Sieben to lead Minnesota Senate elections panel

• Sen. Katie Sieben

Katie Sieben, pictured last week after she was named assistant Minnesota Senate majority leader, will chair the Senate's elections subcommittee beginning in January. Photo by Don Davis/State Capitol Bureau

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• Senate Democratic leader names committee chairmen

Sen. Katie Sieben will help decide what election changes Minnesota sees in the coming years.

Sieben, DFL-Cottage Grove, will lead the Senate elections subcommittee when Democrats take control of the Legislature in January. That post, announced Wednesday, is in addition to her position as assistant Senate majority leader.

Sieben has worked on elections issues for several years in the Legislature. She was part of a bipartisan group of lawmakers that crafted changes to the state’s absentee voting process after the protracted U.S. Senate recount in 2008, which focused heavily on disputed absentee ballots.

Sieben also was an outspoken opponent of the constitutional amendment on last week’s ballot that would have required voters show photo identification at the polling place. Sieben said the amendment, which voters rejected, would not solve a problem proponents targeted: felons who unlawfully vote.

This will be Sieben’s first time leading a standing legislative panel. She previously was vice-chair of the Senate committee handling public works projects.

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Tags: minnesota politics, updates, elections, politics, news