(Minnesota’s Election Integrity Problem – John Howe – Video Transcript)
Are Minnesota election officials actively undermining election integrity and credibility?
Minnesota election officials’ obstructive efforts include refusing to comply with public disclosure laws, ignoring evidence of ineligible voting, and making misleading claims about the integrity of the election system.
The voting integrity group Minnesota Voters Alliance (MVA) is seeking public data on Minnesota elections in an attempt to determine the number of ineligible voters that occur during Minnesota elections.
In June 2017, the MVA requested that the Secretary of State release public voter data, using Minnesota’s Data Practices Act, on ALL voters, including those who have failed an eligibility verification test – those that have been marked “challenged” or “inactive”.
However, Democrat Secretary of State Steve Simon is stonewalling. After losing in Ramsey County District Court in 2018, Simon lost again at the appellate level and now is wasting MORE taxpayer money appealing his loss to the Minnesota Supreme Court. All of the courts thus far have ruled that the requested data are indeed public records and ordered Simon to release data to the MVA.
The Minnesota Supreme Court hearing is Tuesday November 5th, and is open to the public – this hearing will make a final ruling on an important topic of election integrity and issue of whether the Minnesota Secretary of State, Steve Simon, may conceal election data that are needed to assess the amount of ineligible voting in Minnesota.
This is an extremely important case that will likely have a huge impact on the integrity and credibility of our elections for decades to come.
For at least two years of this lawsuit, Steve Simon has refused to release millions of records, that show who voted in elections, that by law, is public information.
The Minnesota Secretary of State is obstructing the ability of citizens to know how valid and how credible their close elections are – After all, in 2008, Al Franken was determined the winner by just 312 votes out of the 2.9 million cast.
The Minnesota Voters Alliance has determined that more than that number of ineligible felons were allowed to vote in that election.
Data is needed since the MVA has researched and also presented to district and appeals court, evidence of which shows large numbers of individuals who have failed eligibility tests who were permitted to vote in past elections – this evidence was determined just from the limited data that Simon has allowed access to the public.
The limited analysis using that subset of available data showed that around 1,300 ineligible felons cast at least 1,600 ineligible votes since 2008.
The MVA’s concern is that the actual number of ineligible voters each election is much higher, but to determine the total number of ineligible voters, which could help policymakers combat the problem, the MVA needs access to the full registration data that Simon is refusing to release.
The data presented by the MVA are from official Government sources and county reports and office of legislation auditor – the data shows the potential of large number of ineligible voting.
At the start of the 2016, election there were 26,000 voters who failed one or more of the eligibility tests and their votes were already counted!
Both district and appeals courts have agreed with the ruling of Minnesota Voter’s Alliance Group – that the Secretary of State does NOT have the authority to withhold the election data – Steve Simon refuses to comply and has instead appealed and the court hearing in November is his last chance.
This entire case is to exactly figure out the amount of ineligible voting that has taken place.
This is the foundation of the ability to asses amount of ineligible voting has taken place.
The MVA is NOT interested in specific individuals or specifically whether an individual broke the law – they are ONLY interested in the performance of election officials in doing their constitutional job to NOT permit certain persons to vote.
These Government officials in Minnesota are NOT doing their job.
Unfortunately, Government officials have focused almost entirely on getting more people to vote and NOT ensuring that the person is eligible to vote.
Allowing an ineligible person to vote is equally as bad as NOT allowing an eligible person to vote, because and ineligible voter cancels out a legitimate vote.
Like you, I want all eligible people to vote and participate in our elections, the keyword is eligible. However, I do not want 105% participation!
This hearing will highlight the major problem of the Secretary of State’s obstruction before the court. The public is encouraged to attend.
Rebecca Brannon
Rebecca is a cinematographer, writer, and independent filmmaker. She attended the 2016 RNC as a Minnesota delegate and has worked on a number of statewide campaigns. In her free time, she enjoys droning, running, playing violin and bass guitar, and walking with her dog. Follow her on Twitter @RebsBrannon
