LEGISLATION HIGHLIGHTS DESPITE SECRETARY SIMON’S CLAIMS OF ACCURATE VOTER DATA, THOUSANDS OF DUBIOUS VOTERS REMAIN ON HENNEPIN COUNTY VOTER ROLLS Minnesota Secretary of State (SOS) Steve Simon recently claimed our state has honest and accurate elections. A recent Minnesota House investigation I’ve been leading has cast doubt on what his office is doing to clean up Minnesota’s voter rolls. According to data we have reviewed from Hennepin County, we know for a fact that there are thousands of voter records with discrepancies, omissions, or questions of eligibility. It raises questions about the quality and integrity of our voter data across our state. Alpha News recently did a story on these troubling findings. Click https://x.com/i/status/2021011732878295107 to watch. After making a formal request for voter data information from four Minnesota counties, the Secretary of State’s Office contacted elections’ offices in all 87 Minnesota counties, telling them a public official had made a data request for master lists. The SOS then told county officials: “Provide only the data listed for the master list under state law: name, residence address, and full date of birth for all registered voters. You should not provide any other data in response to a request for the master list, including email address, voter registration status, or data on inactive voters.” Hennepin County shared its voter master list in full, and that data contained numerous problematic findings. Among the findings in Hennepin County’s voter roll data: - Minneapolis precincts with very high numbers of ‘challenged voters,’ In one precinct, over one in five voters has been flagged with questions about their eligibility to vote.
- Voters that have implausible birthdates
- Missing required information like address or birthdays.
- Voters appearing as either duplicates or who may have registered and voted more than once.
When Secretary Simon is more concerned about what I might find on the voter rolls rather than ensuring the integrity of our state’s elections system, that is a major problem. The attempt to control what voter data counties should release is troubling. If he truly believed the state’s voter rolls are spotless, would he not welcome the scrutiny? What is he trying to hide This is just one county out of 87, but it is the one with roughly 20% of the state’s population. It’s clear we need more transparency because the Hennepin County data proves the voter rolls are not clean. All 87 counties need a thorough inspection, and the federal government has offered to help. If the SOS office can’t or won’t do it, then it should accept the federal assistance. |