By: Michael McIntee, UpTake Reporter

The full cost of implementing voter photo ID isn’t known, but county and city officials say just the provisional ballot part of it it will push up property taxes.

Secretary of State Mark Ritchie says the statewide system for the provisional ballots the constitutional amendment will require will cost at least $3 million.

Minnesota’s most experienced election official, Ramsey County Elections Manager Joe Mansky estimates the cost of provisional ballots to be $150,000 biannually for Ramsey County, which typically represents 10% of the cost across the state.

Smaller townships could face extra cost because they would need to create business hours for people to come back and prove their identity. Kent Sulum of the Minnesota Association of townships says that could be as much at $3.1 million a year statewide.