Students and an employee of the Secretary of State's office were among the opponents of an idea to require an identification card to vote. Critics say it would deter some voters. The Legislature's Republican majority likes the idea and hopes to put it on the November ballot as a Constitutional amendment.

A coalition opposing the voter ID constitutional amendment has picked former Vice President Walter Mondale and former Gov. Arne Carlson to help lead its statewide campaign.

A group opposed to a constitutional amendment that would require voters to show photo IDs at the polls is accusing the other side of engaging in race-baiting. An image on the website of Minnesota Majority showed a line of people outside a voting booth. The lineup includes three characters in what could be Halloween costumes next to a man in a mariachi outfit and a black man in a prison jumpsuit.

The measure advanced through a House committee on a party-line vote Monday. If the House and Senate pass the proposal, then voters in the November election will decide whether to amend the state constitution to require that all would-be voters present a photo ID before they cast a ballot.

Passage of the voter ID constitutional amendment next month would require Minnesotans to bring a government-issued photo identification to the polls when they vote, beginning in 2013. But the devil is in the details. The Pioneer Press reports that critics say the specifics still aren't clear – what kind of ID, what happens if you don’t have one, how much it would cost and who pays? The 2013 Legislature could be left to sort it out.

Minnesotans will vote this fall on a Constitutional amendment that would make a photo ID a requirement to vote. The Republican-backed measure passed the Legislature on party-line votes. Now supporters and critics of the change will ramp up campaigns to influence the public.

The American Civil Liberties Union says no one will collect the $1,000 it posted as a "bounty" for evidence of voter fraud that photo ID legislation would have prevented. The ACLU says no one offered evidence that met the criteria, but Minnesota Majority, a pro-photo ID group, says they had a valid claim.

The Senate Local Government and Elections Committee passed the voter ID bill on a party-line vote, with DFLers opposing it. The measure has several more stops before it would appear on the November ballot as a proposed Constitutional amendment.