Fight Continues to Force Ramsey County to Adopt Procedures to Ensure More Duplicates are not Added to the Voter Roll.

(Minneapolis, MN) – February 1, 2023:  Ramsey County, Minnesota, removed 61 duplicate voter registrations from the county voter roll after the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) brought them to the county’s attention in litigation filed last year. In total, six counties have removed 501 duplicate voter registrations due to the efforts and litigation of the Public Interest Legal Foundation.

Last September, the Foundation filed six Help America Vote Act (HAVA) complaints against six Minnesota counties for failing to remove duplicate registrations. Under the Help America Vote Act, or HAVA, states are required to implement a computerized statewide voter registration list that is accurate and eliminates duplicate registrations. Duplicate voter registrations can open the door for fraud; so, it is important for government officials to prioritize maintaining their voter rolls, even in eliminating small numbers of duplicates. Former Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman lost to challenger Al Franken by only 312 votes, for example.

“The removal of these more than 500 duplicate registrations have made Minnesota’s elections more secure,” said PILF President, J. Christian Adams. “But Minnesota voters should not have to rely on third parties to find duplicate registrations. Ramsey County’s process for searching for and removing duplicates clearly isn’t working, and it should implement a new policy to ensure that duplicate registrations are eliminated.”

The Foundation still has ongoing state litigation with Ramsey County. Despite the Foundation pointing out the duplicates to Ramsey County, the county has refused to adopt new procedures to ensure it is identifying and eliminating duplicate registrations.

James Dickey of the Upper Midwest Law Center served as local counsel.

###