Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily midday digest of what local media outlets and Twitter-ers are gabbing about.
Kim Crockett Shames “Flabby” People Who Think They Can Vote
GOP Secretary of State candidate Kim Crockett doesn’t really really understand the nuances of how voting works, even though she'd like to be in charge of state elections. As a result, she worries a lot about the process and comes up with zany hypotheticals. Crockett was recently on the Jack Tomzcak Podcast where she shared her strategy to “ask people who don’t normally vote for us to vote for us this time.” But one vote she doesn’t want, in addition to disabled people and non-English speakers? Provisional ballot voters. “I don’t know that we owe people who can’t get organized,” she said. “It’s the flabby American voter who is indulged… And there’s some good faith scenarios you can come up with where you want people to be able to vote, but the onus is on them. The state shouldn't be going around, 'Oh can I help you?'”
Crockett continues to be confused over who exactly counts votes. "We don't know what's going on in there at the ballot board," she exclaimed when absentee ballots came up, explaining that she believes the people counting those ballots should be made up of equal parts DFL/GOP supporters. “To explain it to the listener, when you vote in person, the election judges are supposed to be equal number Republicans and Democrats,” Tomzcak incorrectly stated as Crockett agrees. “Counting absentee ballots, when that’s done by county employees there’s no guarantee that it’s a bipartisan group.” A quick Google will reveal that no, election judges don’t have to be equally bipartisan. The rule is that there can’t be more than five members (or half) of a party in a precinct, but election judges can also identify as supporting other parties, such as the Green Party or even be unaffiliated.
But hey, this is kind of a step up from previous Crockett interviews; at one point she stated that the secretary of state counted those votes. Next time she’s not running for office she should consider signing up to be an election judge and see first-hand how things actually work.
GOP Congressional Candidate Stole Valor (Allegedly)
Tyler Kistner's "four combat deployments" have been a focal point for the Republican congressional candidate since he first ran in 2020. As the Reformer's Deena Winter reports today, rumors of his military service seem to have been greatly exaggerated—and VoteVets, a progressive veterans organization that's backing Rep. Angie Craig in his 2nd District race, has reached out to TV stations and streaming services to ask them to stop running the ads with these claims. While Kistner has said, among other things, that he put the enemy “six feet under,” and claimed, “I’ve been in such conflicts,” with regards to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he never earned a combat action ribbon. He would have... if he'd actually seen combat. And if those quotes, which have been called into question by Kistner's opponents before, aren't damning enough, the Reformer found new evidence of the supposed combat veteran's valor-stealing, including a February 2020 candidate forum during which he said: “I’ve been in fights, I’ve been in combat." Rather hard to misconstrue that one, bud.
Dorm Residents Fear for Safety; U of M Blames Them, Supply Chain
Over the past month, University of Minnesota students have reported three "indecent" and "inappropriate" incidents inside campus bathrooms, the Minnesota Daily’s Madison Ross reports, including a male suspect peering in a dorm bathroom stall. The disturbing events happened in two resident halls (Middlebrook in Minneapolis; Bailey in St. Paul) and one academic building (Smith Hall in Minneapolis), and they follow several similarly disturbing dorm bathroom incidents last year.
“The security at the campus dorms are slim to none, and you can easily access any building without having a U Card,” freshman Middlebrook resident Carmen Pasquerella tells the Daily. “My roommate and I were initially nervous for our safety because, as women, we are already targeted on campus for crimes like this.”
Who’s to blame? Susan Stubblefield, the interim director of Housing & Residential Life (HRL), tells the campus paper it's the residents "holding doors open for strangers, propping doors open or leaving doors ajar [creating] security challenges,” adding that plans from May to add bathroom locks have been sidelined by “supply chain disruptions.” Hmm. Members of student government are understandably frustrated “by the lack of progress."
Luis Arráez Denies Yankees Joy
The Twins (77-84) will conclude their 2022 season with a whimper this afternoon in Chicago, having spectacularly choked since sitting at first place in the AL Central just one month ago. One silver lining is Luis Arráez's league-leading .315 batting average. Arráez has been dueling with Aaron Judge, a member of the hated Yankees, for the batting-champ crown, but with Judge resting today Arráez is the (almost official) winner. (The sweet-swingin' Twin would have to go 0-8 against the White Sox to dip below Judge, Bring Me the News points out.) Making matters even sweeter: Had Judge’s .311 average crept above Arráez’s, the Yankee slugger would’ve won baseball’s Triple Crown—most home runs, RBI, and highest average. Denying that team and fanbase any amount of joy? A mini World Series of sorts. Arráez now sits among Joe Mauer, Kirby Puckett, Rod Carew, and Tony Oliva as the only batting champs in club history.
