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Good morning!
It is hard to believe that this is my last email update before the 2026 legislative session begins. While this interim was a welcome break, I stayed busy and enjoyed the work I was able to do for the bonding committee by travelling around the state with my colleagues to view projects and proposals. I am excited to get back to St. Paul and put in the work for the best district in the state! I am always thankful for your support and trust in me.
Voter Roll Discrepancies
My colleague, Rep. Pam Altendorf, recently requested voter data information from 4 counties in Minnesota. The Office of Secretary of State Steve Simon notified election officials in all 87 Minnesota counties that a public official had submitted a data request for statewide voter master lists. In its guidance to counties, the office directed them to release only the information legally included in the master list under Minnesota law, specifically voter names, residential addresses, and full dates of birth. Counties were further instructed not to provide any additional data, such as email addresses, voter registration status, or information related to inactive voters, in response to the request.
Altendorf shared that Hennepin County released their voter master list in full, and she was able to identify several glaring issues right off the bat. The following is a list of obvious issues that Rep. Altendorf put together:
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Several thousand voters are flagged with ‘challenged status’ because of questions about their eligibility to vote
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Minneapolis precincts with very high numbers of ‘challenged voters.’ In one precinct, over one in five voters has been flagged with questions about their eligibility to vote
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Voters that have implausible birthdates
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Missing required information like address or birthdays
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Voters appearing as either duplicates or who may have registered and voted more than once
Now, this is just an example of some issues in Hennepin County, which is the most populous county, but only a small part of the state. There are election integrity issues across the state and this is proof that we need to make changes to the ID requirements at a minimum. I believe there are many changes that need to be made, but this would be a good first step. I am thankful for the investigative work that my colleagues have done and the work that we will hopefully do in the future.
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Detransitioners Fight Back Against Medical Professionals
As I touched on last week, there have been some major moves in Minnesota recently regarding "gender-affirming care" for children under the age of 18. You can read more about the Children's Minnesota decision here, as well as in my newsletter from last week.
This week, Alpha News covered this story of a detransitioner, a girl who had "gender-affirming surgery" at the age of 16 and has since realized that this "care" was not the solution to her problem, and the medical malpractice lawsuit she has filed. The story is that she recently won the $2 million lawsuit around the same time that the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) released a position statement on Tuesday recommending delaying gender-related surgeries until a patient is at least 19 years of age.
This lawsuit, going in favor of the patient, marks the first time that a recipient of "gender-affirming care" has won a medical malpractice case. As more of the effects of these surgeries come to the surface, and more people realize that transitioning is not the answer, I am sure we will see more pushback like this.
I have always been opposed to allowing/subjecting children to harmful hormone "treatments" and irreversible surgeries, and I will continue to fight to protect these vulnerable children. It is clear that long term effects are more severe, and unable to be undone, than doctors may have thought, and these medical procedures do not address underlying issues that children have.
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Tracking Minnesota's PFML Program
On January 1st, Minnesota's Paid Family Medical Leave (PFML) program launched, which offers up to 20 weeks of paid leave for employees in MN. According to the state's website the program "provides payments and job protections to people who need time away from work for their own health or to care for a family member."
For context, this program was put into motion during the 2023-2024 biennium, and is funded through a payroll tax, of which employers must pay at least 50% and employees cover the remainder. We have already seen in late 2025 and early 2026 that this program has devastating impacts on small businesses as many have had to shut down completely due to the instability of the program.
Now that the program has been up and running for about 6 weeks, we have gotten some preliminary data about applications to the program and leave approvals so far. In the first two weeks, the approval rate was 54% higher than the forecast. Now, the number has tapered off a little, but is still alarming, with approvals at 26% above forecast for the year. Even better, the department running the program has only processed 55% of applications so far.
We have been saying loud and clear for years that this program is not sustainable in its current form. It has placed an undue burden on small businesses, increased taxes on both employees and employers, and, so far, its expenses are exceeding revenue (based on approval forecasts vs. actual approvals). I hope that we can address these issues soon so that the disastrous effects of the program don't multiply even further.
U.S. Olympics
As I'm sure you know, the Olympics are underway in Italy and Team USA has made a strong showing so far. There are many inspiring athlete stories, as always, and quite a few powerhouse athletes from Minnesota!
Shoutout to our Curling Mixed Doubles competitors, Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin, on winning the silver medal earlier this week! This is the first medal the U.S. has ever won in mixed doubles curling, and the team lives and trains in Duluth. Best of luck to the rest of our athletes competing over the rest of the games.
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Please Contact Me
If you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding any issue related to state government, please feel free to contact me at either 651-296-3201 or rep.mary.franson@house.mn.gov I would love to hear from you.
It’s an honor to represent the best!
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