Lawsuit alleges Minnesota voter roll has 586 duplicates

A lawsuit alleges Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon failed to remove 586 duplicate names from the state’s voter roll.

The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) and the the Upper Midwest Law Center filed a five-page complaint alleging that Simon violated the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).

HAVA requires state voter registration records to be “accurate and updated regularly” and that the list maintenance program “makes a reasonable effort to remove registrants who are ineligible to vote from the official list of eligible voters.”

The complaint cites an analysis that found 586 duplicate registrants on the voter roll list.

“This is the first time a voter list maintenance complaint has been filed under HAVA,” PILF President J. Christian Adams said in a statement. “This is an innovative approach to clean voter rolls and improve election integrity. PILF is leading the way in cutting edge legal strategy to protect free and fair elections. This complaint will result in removing the duplicate registrants from Minnesota’s voter roll.”

Minnesota, along with 5 other states, is exempted from the voter list maintenance requirements of the National Voter Registration Act.

The lawsuit seeks the removal of 586 alleged duplicate names before the special elections on Aug. 9, 2022 and to pay reasonable legal fees.