In a shocking upset, the voter ID amendment has failed, and by a sizable margin. With 98 percent of precincts reporting, the "no" votes led by nearly 8 percentage points, MPR says. The measure would have amended the state constitution to require voters to bring photo IDs to the polls.

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.

Proposals for a constitutional amendment requiring photo IDs at polls are just a step away from reaching the House and Senate floors, MinnPost reports. Constitutional amendments, if approved by the Legislature, go straight to voters. They do not require Gov. Dayton's signature, so he cannot veto them.

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.

The proposed referendum on whether a photo ID should be required to vote cleared its last Senate committee and is scheduled for a floor debate Friday afternoon. The Minnesota House debated the measure for nine hours before approving it early Wednesday morning.

Groups that are challenging the proposed Constitutional amendment that would require an ID to vote filed paperwork with the Minnesota Supreme Court in advance of the hearing later this month. They say if the court approves the ballot question as is, it will send the message that the Legislature is free to mislead or deceive voters.

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.

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.