VIDEO: Carleton Student to Senate Committee: Don't Require Voter ID

Ben Hellerstein, a student and member of the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group, says Minnesota can't pass a voter photo identification requirement.

On Monday, Hellerstein told the Senate's Local Government and Elections Committee that it needs to dismiss SF0479 and SF0509, two bills aimed at requiring ID for voters at polling places.

Hellerstein, originally from New York, says he fell in love with Minnesota partly because of its open process.

"This is a welcoming and friendly place and a place that invites people to get involved without putting up a lot of unnecessary barriers and obstacles," he told the committee. ... "This legislation attempts to solve a problem that doesn't exist."