Northern Valley Bucks Trend on MN Marriage Amendment - Valley News Live - KVLY/KXJB - Fargo/Grand Forks

Northern Valley Bucks Trend on MN Marriage Amendment

  The hotly contested marriage amendment vote in Minnesota has come down to the wire. The measure has lost with ninety-nine percent of the vote counted. The no votes are at 51.3-percent. The yes vote is at 47.6-percent.  A yes vote of 50-percent was needed to add a constitutional amendment to ban same sex marriages.

  However, in Polk County, voters bucked the statewide trend on the Minnesota Marriage Amendment. Sixty-six-percent of Polk County voters… voted yes for the constitutional measure to ban same sex marriages.

  That follows a major lobbying effort by the Catholic Bishop here, for a yes vote in northwestern Minnesota.

  It was nearly midnight before the final ballots arrived here at election headquarters in Crookston.

Reporter: "Does it look like a record turnout?"

Michelle Cote, Election Administrator: "It does appear so, looking at the number of registered voters to ballots cast. It look like we're up in the 85 to 90-percent range, which is pretty amazing."

Reporter: "Did the big push by the church help the turnout?"

Sen. Deb Kiel, (R) Crookston: "Possibly, there's a very definite thought process with the marriage amendment."

  And Kiel says that strong voter turnout, pushed in part by the marriage amendment, helped republican candidates here in this conservative section of the State.