The Upper Midwest Law Center (UMLC) joins the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) in celebrating a significant win for election integrity with the settlement agreement secured in the case against Ramsey County, Minnesota. The agreement reinforces the county’s requirement to eliminate duplicate voter registrations in line with federal law, the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).
Following a formal HAVA complaint filed by UMLC and PILF against the County, 61 duplicate voter registrations were successfully removed from the voter roll. Duplicate registrations invite errors and create opportunities for individuals to cast multiple ballots, threatening the fundamental principles of fair elections.
As part of the settlement, Ramsey County agrees to provide UMLC and PILF with records detailing the criteria and procedures for monthly duplicate searches, staff review procedures for duplicate voter registrations, and information on the cause of resolved duplicates. Over the next year, the County will review suspected duplicate registrations submitted by PILF, taking necessary actions to merge them.
This case is one of many that UMLC has successfully pursued to improve election security and integrity. These cases resulted in counties removing duplicate registrations and improving practices for “merging” duplicate registrations, clarified the statutory mandate that party-balanced election judges review questionable absentee ballots and strengthened signature matching requirements for absentee ballots in the face of the Secretary of State’s misinterpretation of Minnesota law.
“Ramsey County’s removal of duplicate voter registrations, and its agreement to provide information important to ensuring good practices going forward, is a win for election integrity in Minnesota. The Upper Midwest Law Center is proud to stand alongside the Public Interest Legal Foundation in ensuring accurate voter rolls, and we appreciate Ramsey County’s commitment to getting its voter rolls right” said UMLC Senior Counsel James Dickey. “We will continue in our mission to make Minnesota elections fair and trustworthy.”
Click here to read the Public Interest Legal Foundation’s press release.
