GOP urges 'transparency' on whether Walz admin removing noncitizens from Minnesota voter rolls

close

Video

State election officials testify on voting laws months before ballots are cast

Fox News senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram elaborates on testimony from several secretaries of state about local voting laws amid a push from Republicans to mandate proof of citizenship to vote.

FIRST ON FOX – House Republicans from Minnesota joined the Republican National Committee (RNC) in demanding that Democratic vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz's administration provide an update on voter roll cleanup efforts, after it was discovered that noncitizens and otherwise ineligible individuals were improperly registered to vote under the state's automatic voter registration process.

Reps. Tom Emmer, Brad Finstad, Michelle Fischbach and Pete Stauber signed onto a follow-up letter RNC election integrity counsel Kevin J. Cline and Minnesota Republican Party Chairman David Hann sent this week. The letter, addressed to Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon and Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson, acknowledged communication between their offices for over a month. 

The Republicans said they provided Simon and Jacobson's offices "with the information necessary to remove known noncitizens from the Minnesota voter rolls over a month ago," and "despite our continued efforts to receive updates on the actions your office is taking, it took over three (3) weeks to get any information, which came on the same day you released the information to the public." 

"Commissioner Jacobson’s September 12 letter admits there were approximately 1,000 individuals who may have been improperly registered to vote under the automatic voter registration ('AVR') process," Cline and Hann wrote. "This leads us, and others, to consider all means necessary to obtain transparency from your office. To this end, we are now joined by Congressman Tom Emmer, Congressman Brad Finstad, Congresswoman Michelle Fischbach, and Congressman Pete Stauber, to demand you provide further answers on this disastrous failure." 

RNC BLASTS WALZ ADMIN'S NONANSWER ON HOW NONCITIZENS MADE IT ONTO MINNESOTA VOTER ROLLS: 'NO HYPOTHETICAL'

The letter demands the Walz administration provide "the exact number of individuals who were inactivated," answer what "the different categories of information the individual records were missing" are, and "provide how many individuals were inactivated for each category of missing information." It also asks Simon and Jacobson how many of the inactivated individuals have voted in a past election, how many of the inactivated individuals were sent ballots in past elections, and if those people will "be able to register and vote in the November election?" 

Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks at Laborfest on Sept. 2, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)

"Would eliminating any of the inactivated individuals’ votes have changed the outcome of any past elections?" the letter asks. It also asks both Walz administration officials when they plan to "complete your confirmation of each individual’s voter registration information?" 

"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," Cline and Hann wrote. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of both Simon and Jacobson regarding the letter but did not immediately hear back. 

The RNC and Minnesota GOP first wrote to the Walz administration in August flagging how a noncitizen, legally living in the state and fearful of jeopardizing his status, came forward to report receiving a primary ballot without having registered to vote. In past letters, Cline and Hann have cited how Walz in March 2023 signed a bill into law allowing noncitizens to receive driver’s licenses, also known as "Driver License for All." Less than two months after signing that bill into law, Walz signed the "Democracy for the People Act," permitting automatic voter registration through the Department of Public Safety’s Driver and Vehicle Services (DVS). 

MINNESOTA GOP DEMANDS PROBE AFTER NONCITIZEN CLAIMS RECEIVING PRIMARY BALLOT WITHOUT REGISTERING TO VOTE

People arrive to cast their vote during the early voting for the presidential race and local elections in Minnesota on Sept. 20, 2024. (Christopher Mark Juhn/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The Republicans claim that Jacobson in particular has only described how the DVS division is supposed to function to ensure each applicant is a U.S. citizen – and has not explained how noncitizens "made it through that process and ultimately made it onto Minnesota’s voter rolls." In early September, Cline and Hann wrote to Jacobson: "This is no hypothetical; lawfully present noncitizens were registered to vote through your department, and Minnesota voters deserve transparency from your department to understand how this failure occurred and how it is being addressed." 

In a Sept. 12 news release, Simon's office admitted that "DVS flagged a small number of applicant files as needing additional confirmation of voter registration information, including address, name, and citizenship." The announcement focused on how 65,339 Minnesotans had registered to vote and 25,572 16- and 17-year-olds preregistered to vote but also explained "changes made to internal processes." 

The Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State said it was partnering with the DVS division "to ensure the process works as expected and that only eligible Minnesotans are being registered to vote." 

A voter casts a ballot at the Minneapolis Elections & Voter Services building on Sept. 20, 2024, in Minneapolis. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

"That partnership includes a manual, two-layer review by DVS of all applicant files it sends to the Office of Secretary of State to be registered or pre-registered to vote. During this review, DVS flagged a small number of applicant files as needing additional confirmation of voter registration information, including address, name, and citizenship," the release says. 

"Out of an abundance of caution," the release continues, "the Office of the Secretary of State has inactivated the voter registrations of any individuals whose registrations DVS flagged. These individuals may be still eligible to vote, but due to human error their documentation was misclassified or not properly saved to the DVS database. The impacted individuals will be notified that if eligible to do so they will need to register to vote online, with their local election office, or in-person at their polling place on Election Day." 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Simon's office said that in order to "add additional quality assurance to the process to catch and correct the instances of human error," DVS is now using "two distinct staff areas to double check all documentation at DVS before applicant files are sent to be registered to vote." His office also said that "DVS is making sure workers who classify documents are getting increased training, and that automatic voter registration has been paused in certain situations.