(Headline USA) House Republicans blasted Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s administration this week for refusing to say whether it is taking action to remove noncitizens from the state’s voter rolls.
The Republican National Committee and Minnesota GOP first raised the issue in August after a noncitizen came forward to report having received a primary ballot without having registered to vote. The error was the result of Minnesota law that automatically registers residents with state drivers licenses.
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon admitted afterward that the state Department of Public Safety’s Driver and Vehicle Services (DVS) identified “a small number of applicant files as needing additional confirmation of voter registration information, including address, name, and citizenship.”
Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson also acknowledged that at least 1,000 individuals “may have been improperly registered to vote under the automatic voter registration (‘AVR’) process,” according to House Republicans.
Yet neither Simon nor Jacobson, nor anyone else in Walz’s administration, have announced whether they plan to remove these potential noncitizens from Minnesota’s voter rolls, Republicans alleged.
“It is imperative that Minnesota voters trust in the state’s election system, which includes knowing the voter rolls only consist of legally registered voters,” Minnesota Reps. Tom Emmer, Brad Finstad, Michelle Fischbach and Pete Stauber wrote in a letter to Walz.
The lawmakers asked Walz’s administration to provide “the exact number of individuals who were inactivated,” and to determine “how many of the inactivated individuals have voted in a past election” or were sent ballots in a past election.
“Would eliminating any of the inactivated individuals’ votes have changed the outcome of any past elections?” the Republicans asked.
In a Sept. 12 press release, Jacobson insisted that “DVS is making sure workers who classify documents are getting increased training, and that automatic voter registration has been paused in certain situations.”
