Flier Offers Chance To Win Car In Exchange For Vote

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Someone apparently wants people to think they can win a free car if they vote for legislative candidate Rashad Turner next week. It's a felony in Minnesota to offer money, promises, food, liquor, clothing, entertainment or gifts of monetary value to someone for voting in a particular way.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported Saturday that a flier found near the Ravoux Hi-Rise encourages people to vote for Turner in exchange for the opportunity to enter a free drawing for a car.

The flier lists the name "Miki" as a contact and gives a telephone number.

Miki Lewis-Frost answered the number when The Associated Press called it Saturday. He said he's a car dealer and is trying to encourage blacks disillusioned with politics to vote. He created a drawing in which voters could what he called a "$300 to $400 get-around car" for voting.

He insisted people don't have to vote for a particular candidate to enter. He said someone must have doctored his flier. He sent The AP a copy of what he said was his original flier, which simply states that people who vote in Tuesday's primary can win a free car through him. The flier states there's no cost to enter.

"We never did that flier (that was found near the Ravoux Hi-Rise)," Lewis-Frost said. "I just simply was trying to get people to come out and vote period. It isn't about who you vote for."

Turner, the face of Black Lives Matter St. Paul, is running against state Rep. Rena Moran, the DFL-endorsed candidate, in the party primary on Tuesday. Turner told the Pioneer Press that he knows Lewis-Frost but his campaign had nothing to do with the flier.