<span style='background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;'>Multiple “religious freedom” bills are currently capturing the attention of state legislatures across the country.</span> <font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">“Religious freedom” bills are proposed legislation that call for religious organizations, businesses, and individuals to be protected from penalties for declining to provide services to individuals whose lifestyle conflicts with their sincerely held religious beliefs.</font>

&nbsp;<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8012809753418px; font-style: normal; line-height: 19.2019214630127px;">Today, Vote Smart released the results of the National Political Courage Test to&nbsp;</span><a href="http://votesmart.org/voteeasy#.VbuQA7NVhHw" target="_self">VoteEasy</a><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8012809753418px; font-style: normal; line-height: 19.2019214630127px;">&nbsp;at&nbsp;</span><a href="votesmart.org" target="_self">VoteSmart.org</a><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8012809753418px; font-style: normal; line-height: 19.2019214630127px;">, giving Minnesota voters an invaluable resource for identifying&nbsp;their&nbsp;best political match November 4th. Thirty congressional, state legislative and gubernatorial candidates passed the 2014 Political Courage Test.</span> <br style="font-size: 12.8012809753418px; line-height: 19.2019214630127px;"> <span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8012809753418px; font-style: normal; line-height: 19.2019214630127px;">&nbsp;</span>

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> What comes to mind when you think of Minnesota? Hockey? Lakes? Maybe the movie “Grumpy Old Men”? How about Hotdishes? </p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> We here at Project Vote Smart often lament the lack of civility in Congress and in state legislatures across this nation. </p>

States across America considered legislation in their most recent sessions that would change voting and voter registration requirements.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Over the past few years, the country has witnessed an abundance of legislation on both the state and national levels regarding same-sex marriage. </p>

<span style="font-size: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">A&nbsp; 20-year study of over 15,000 congressional candidates and their willingness to answer questions on the major issues</span></span>

The February 26 shooting of&nbsp;Trayvon Martin&nbsp;has ignited a media firestorm surrounding so-called “stand your ground” or “castle doctrine” laws in the United States.&nbsp;

<p> <a href="http://www.votesmart.org/newsletter" target="_blank">Sign up now</a><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">&nbsp;to receive a copy of this monthly publication.</font></font> </p>