Minnesota Supreme Court Decision in Coleman-Franken Contest Does Not Resolve Questions Surrounding the Integrity of Minnesota’s Elections

NEWS RELEASE: MNMAJORITY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 2, 2009
Contact: Jeff Davis, 612-605-3303 ext 702

"The Minnesota Supreme Court has brought an end to the highly contested Coleman – Franken election battle by declaring Al Franken as the winner in the US Senate race. But the Court’s ruling fails to settle other questions surrounding the integrity of the 2008 elections. The Coleman – Franken case focused almost exclusively on the question of counting ballots. But questions involving who actually voted in the 2008 election have not been adequately addressed.

Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie has publically acknowledged that state election records as of the end of April indicated a discrepancy of 40,000 more ballots than voters accounted for in the voter history records. State law requires voter history updates to be completed within 6 weeks following a general election. But 8 months latter, Minnesotans still do not have an accurate account of who actually voted in the 2008 election.

The ballot-voter discrepancy was the basis of a lawsuit filed against the Secretary of State and 30 county attorneys in May of this year. Minnesota Majority, a conservative watchdog group, filed the lawsuit with the Minnesota Supreme Court claiming that election officials had violated state election laws. In addition to ballot-voter discrepancy, the group says it has discovered other irregularities in election records, including:

· deceased individuals who are recorded as having voted in the election,

· non-citizen voters,

· felon voters,

· individuals who appear to have voted more than once, and

· voters residing at non-existent and vacant addresses.

State law requires election officials to perform certain verification and validation procedures designed to prevent these situations from occurring. Minnesota Majority’s lawsuit claims that election officials failed to comply with these laws.

Minnesota Majority initially contacted the Secretary of State to report irregularities it had found in Minnesota’s voter registration file in October 2008. But the Secretary of State’s office was dismissive of the group’s concerns and refused to conduct an investigation.

There also remains a question regarding ACORN’s role in the election. In September of 2008, ACORN had publically acknowledged that it had registered over 80,000 new voters in Minnesota. Secretary of State Mark Ritchie was endorsed by ACORN in his 2006 election bid. While election officials in other states have launched formal investigations into ACORN’s activities, a similar investigation has not been initiated in Minnesota.
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