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Minnesota Secretary of State visits local college to discuss the importance of democracy

March 5, 2008

Contact:
Valory Gilpin
Marketing Director
P: (952) 230-3039
C: (612) 325-4534
Valory.Gilpin@Rasmussen.edu

Eden Prairie (MN) — Minnesota Secretary of State, Mark Ritchie, visited the Rasmussen College Eden Prairie campus on Tuesday, February 26 to speak with students and staff about the importance of voting and democracy.

The event was part of the Rasmussen College bi-annual General Education seminar. The theme for the seminar was democracy and voice.

Close to 30 people attended to learn what Ritchie’s job as Secretary of State entails and to hear about some important voting issues he felt he should address, since it is an election year.

"Less than five percent of those fighting overseas vote," said Ritchie. "It is not the case that those overseas can’t vote, but there isn’t an effective way of going about it."

He finds this disappointing, seeing how these are the people who risk their lives and they aren’t getting the chance to vote.

Philip Cenzano, a former soldier for the US Army, and now student at Rasmussen, was in attendance and shared his voting experiences overseas.

While stationed in Germany, in 2000, Cenzano was able to cast his vote, but later found out the ballots didn’t get mailed in time for them to count.

In 2004, when he was fighting in Iraq, again he was able to cast a vote, but the truck delivering their ballots was blown up.

Ritchie is working on implementing a process where those who are overseas, can vote through an email system. Using the internet will cut the time it takes with this process in half, said Ritchie.

Secretary Ritchie stressed for people to become informed voters and to know what issues are important to them. He is open to speaking at more events like this one and encourages people to get involved with the political system.

To get in contact with Secretary Ritchie, visit his website at http://www.sos.state.mn.us/home/index.asp.

To learn about more events at the Rasmussen College Eden Prairie campus, call (952) 545-2000.

ABOUT RASMUSSEN COLLEGE
Rasmussen College, founded in 1900, is an institution of higher learning dedicated the growth and development of students, employees and the communities it serves. Rasmussen College, Inc. is a premier provider of online educational experiences serving more than 7,500 students through its network of 13 Rasmussen College campuses in the Midwest and Southeast and 12 virtual campuses operated by its Deltak Edu division. Through these 25 campuses, Rasmussen offers students a broad range of quality programs ranging from certificates to Masters focused on the areas with the greatest occupation opportunities. To learn more about Rasmussen College, please visit www.rasmussen.edu.

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