The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Friday that the City of Oak Grove can use paper voter rosters in the upcoming 2026 election. That ruling came after a months-long effort by the Minnesota city to move away from electronic voter rosters.
Located in northern Anoka County, Oak Grove entered into a contract with Anoka County to use electronic voter rosters in precincts within city limits around 2018. Voter rosters are lists of eligible voters that help staff know who is registered to vote and who has already voted.
However, Oak Grove began a push to return to using paper rosters in 2024 when it passed a resolution saying the electronic roster system puts election data at risk of being “intercepted for unethical, even unlawful, monitoring and manipulation.”
Oak Grove’s efforts to return to paper rosters continued through 2025 and eventually came to a head in April of 2026 when it informed the Minnesota Secretary of State that the city would use paper voters rosters in the 2026 election.
In turn, the Minnesota Secretary of State said the city does not have the authority to make such a change when elections for federal, state, and county office are also on the ballot. The Secretary of State said only Anoka County can decide which rosters to use in that case.
Oak Grove responded by filing a lawsuit against the Minnesota Secretary of State in May which asked the Minnesota Supreme Court to declare that the city can use paper rosters in the 2026 general election. On Friday, the Supreme Court handed a major win to the city.
“The City of Oak Grove has the authority to determine whether paper or electronic voter rosters are used at precincts within the City of Oak Grove’s boundaries,” the court ruled.
During the case, the Secretary of State, who was joined by Anoka County, once again argued the city did not have the authority to decide what rosters to use in an election where federal, state, and county offices were on the ballot.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court described that argument as “unreasonable under the plain language” of state law. Additionally, the court said, “the Legislature could have limited a city’s authority to use electronic or paper rosters … but it chose not to do so here.”
As such, the Supreme Court’s ruling appears to mean that all Minnesota cities can choose to use paper voter rosters if they so choose.
Friday’s court ruling was per curiam, meaning the ruling was ascribed to the court as a whole rather than specific Supreme Court justices. A per curiam ruling does not necessarily mean that the court’s ruling was unanimous.
Oak Grove was represented by the Upper Midwest Law Center (UMLC) in the case.
“This is a major victory for local election authority and the rule of law,” UMLC President Doug Seaton said in a statement. “Oak Grove made a lawful decision for its own precincts, and the Minnesota Supreme Court confirmed that state and county officials cannot rewrite the statute simply because they prefer a different system.”
Switching from electronic voter rosters to paper rosters has slowly picked up steam in a few Minnesota jurisdictions in recent years.
Last year, Alpha News reported that Isanti County rejected electronic voter rosters. In June of that year, the chair of the Isanti County Board of Commissioners told Alpha News that jurisdictions within the county did not want electronic voter rosters.
Luke Sprinkel
Luke Sprinkel previously worked as a Legislative Assistant at the Minnesota House of Representatives. He grew up as a Missionary Kid (MK) living in England, Thailand, Tanzania, and the Middle East. Luke graduated from Regent University in 2018.
