WASHINGTON—The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project filed a lawsuit in Minnesota today against the Secretary of State and Department of Public Safety to compel the production of records related to voter roll maintenance.    

In September, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety told members of the Minnesota Congressional delegation that it, in coordination with the Minnesota Secretary of State, had inactivated approximately 1,000 voters from the Minnesota voter rolls. The voter roll maintenance followed a manual review of nearly 104,000 individuals who were registered to vote through the state’s Driver and Vehicle Services Division. Election integrity leaders in Minnesota have also provided Minnesota election officials with information necessary to remove known noncitizens from Minnesota’s voter rolls. Despite having this information for months, Minnesota state election officials have apparently taken no action. 

Last month, the Oversight Project submitted open records requests to the Minnesota Secretary of State and Department of Public Safety seeking records showing the actual number of voters inactivated following the internal audit, the reasons for their inactivation, and whether the inactivated individuals have voted in prior elections. Both offices have ignored the requests. 

Kyle Brosnan, chief counsel of the Oversight Project issued the following statement on the lawsuit: 

“The Oversight Project has already uncovered evidence of noncitizens admitting on camera to being registered to vote in Minnesota in the upcoming election. We also know that election integrity leaders have been communicating with Minnesota election officials for months with credible evidence of noncitizens appearing on Minnesota’s voter rolls.  The silence from Minnesota election officials on this important issue speaks volumes.   

 

“We submitted an open records request seeking transparency about Minnesota’s voter roll maintenance efforts. Of the approximately 1,000 voters we know were removed, how many are noncitizens? This is a simple question and Minnesota election officials have not answered it. These officials have not been transparent with elected leaders from the state and have ignored our open records request.  

 

“While the Biden-Harris administration has brought ridiculous lawsuits against Alabama and Virginia for their voter roll maintenance efforts, which removed thousands of noncitizens from the voter rolls, the Justice Department is curiously uninterested in Minnesota’s voter roll maintenance efforts. We will continue fighting for transparency on this important election integrity issue.”