The Minnesota Supreme Court supports the Republican Party in the Hennepin County mail-in voting board ruling

MINNEAPOLIS – The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled in favor State Republicanwho, in a petition, accused Hennepin County officials of violating election laws. The filing accused the county of appointing Republican election judges to its mail-in voting committee who were not listed on an official party list.

The Minnesota Republican Party's petition states that election officials “have a legal duty to recruit election judges for the mail-in voting commission by first contacting Republican election judges residing in Hennepin County who have been listed by the Republican Party on its party list.”

In their response to the petition, county election officials said: “The lists of election judge candidates from the major political parties… have been exhausted by the cities in Hennepin County, including Minneapolis, thus giving respondents the authority to appoint others not on the ballot.” Republican Party list to the Hennepin County Absentee Voting Board,” the decision states. Minnesota's secretary of state also filed a response, saying county officials did not violate election law.

In a ruling issued Tuesday, the Supreme Court said the county failed in its legal duty because it “appointed election judges from outside the party lists to the Hennepin County mail-in voting board without first approving Hennepin County residents on the lists.” contact”. The court said the county must select judges for absentee ballots from the Republican Party's list by Friday.

On Wednesday morning, Hennepin County Elections Director Ginny Gelms said that while she believes the county is complying with election law, it will abide by the court order.

“We believed we were doing what we were supposed to do according to the law,” Gelms said. “But I respect the Supreme Court and we will do what they tell us.”

Gelms said county officials believed they were exhausting party-provided lists by working with individual cities to appoint election judges. However, the court ruled that the county must independently address the entire list to comply with the law. Gelms said officials reached out to the entire list via email Wednesday morning.

Gelms also said that the election judges who serve on the mail-in ballot board are primarily tasked with verifying signatures when there are disputes between mail-in ballot applications and the ballots themselves.

“The number of ballots is so small that the number of election judges we need on the Hennepin County mail-in ballot board is quite small,” she said.

The board has and will comply with party balance laws, Gelms said, which was confirmed in the court's ruling. Under state law, signature verification must be conducted by two judges from different political parties. Both Gelms and the court said this was the case.

The Minnesota Secretary of State's Office later sent a full statement to WCCO:

The Minnesota Supreme Court has provided clarity on a technical and previously unclear law regarding how a limited number of election judges are hired to serve on mail-in voting committees. This regulation only applies to the appointment of election judges to carry out signature verification in cases where the identification numbers do not match during postal vote processing.

The court noted that the Hennepin County Absentee Voting Commission included election judges from both major political parties. Additionally, the court's decision will have no impact on mail-in ballots that have already been processed and will not delay ongoing mail-in ballot verification processes.

As of Wednesday, Hennepin County had admitted more than 263,000 people Postal voting. The board has accepted more than 209,000 of them.