We’re checking into an apparent mixup of ballots that affect school referenda in the northwest suburbs. Kristi Santelman reports that she got the wrong ballot at her precinct, Providence Academy, in Plymouth. Here is her account:

After I finished, I realized that I was given the wrong ballot. There are 3 school districts in my precinct so there are 3 different ballots. I live in the Robbinsdale District, but the Referendum was not on my ballot.

I have filed an official complaint with the Secretary of State’s Office.

Several voters have questioned why they weren’t asked for photo ID to confirm their identity when they went to pick up their ballots. Beth Fraser of the Secretary of State’s office responds that for registered voters, Minnesota law does not permit election officials to demand a photo ID. Voters do have to sign an oath, and potentially face a perjury charge if they do so falsely. If election officials are suspicious that a voter might be lying about his or her identity, they may ask the voter to confirm date of birth, Fraser said.

Despite the law, several voters are reporting that the election officials are asking for IDs anyway. Barbara Zell said that’s what happened at her precinct, Cross of Peace Church in Shakopee. Zell has been voting in the precinct for nine years, and questioned the election official. The answer she got: they were instructed to do so. “I thought, this is absolutely stupid.”

Whether to require photo IDs for voting has been a divisive political issue. Opponents saying it suppresses the vote of the elderly and others less likely to have the IDs, while supporters say it’s a safeguard against voter fraud.

Chris Rossley reports that at his precinct, Crossroads Church in Cottage Grove, the election officials had to open up the machine and store the paper inside, because the device refused to read the ballots. “The guys just open it up and shove it in the side. Everybody kind of had a sour look on their face, wondering what’s this guy doing?” Given that I’ve heard the same story at this point from Maple Grove, Minneapolis and Minnetonka, among other places, Rossley should feel comforted that he has company.

Natalie Madgy found the same trouble first thing at her Richfield precinct, at 73rd Street and Portland Avenue. Here’s her account:

I arrived at 6:30am and was one of the first 10 to vote. I was uncomfortable having to leave my ballot in a slot of the scanner, to be scanned later, as the machine was not working

Kent Hemmen Saleska reports an incident at Hopkins Precinct 4, the Hopkins Activity Center. Here is his account:

My wife just came back from voting in Hopkins (I’ll be heading to the polls a little later today) and reported that one of the election judges (an elderly white woman) was questioning whether a Somali woman could vote since she couldn’t speak English.

My wife was quite pleased to see (and I was grateful to hear) that a whole bunch of people stuck up for the Somali woman. My wife said there was some back and forth between the election judge and the others who were in support of the Somail woman, and as a result, apparently, one person even went over to a person in charge to report the election judge. Supposedly the election judge will get sanctioned. I don’t know what the consequences of that are, but I hope it at least involves education, if not being banned from being an election judge.

Whistleblower has a call in to the election officials in Hopkins. I’ll let you know what I find out.

UPDATE: Here’s my Sunday column on the confrontation, in which the city clerk informed me the election judge had been removed.

UPDATE2: Kim Behrens took issue with my Sunday column, which grew out of a blog post from Election Day. Behrens was there to vote at the Hopkins Activity Center, closer than anybody I had interviewed so far, when she heard the election judge say, why is she voting if she can’t speak English? She wasn’t trying to prevent the woman from voting, Behrens said, “she was just being a jerk” as another judge tried to find the voter’s name on the rolls. There was no discussion about citizenship or eligibility for voting, Behrens said, although there was obviously a fair amount of back-and-forth from the people who came to the voter’s aid.