Minnesota Supreme Court upholds dismissal in election lawsuit
Mar. 16—ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, March 16, 2022, that the state's appeals court properly dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Minnesota Voters Alliance against Ramsey and Olmsted Counties as well as the City of Duluth over absentee ballot concerns.
In the 25-page ruling, Justice Barry Anderson ruled that Ramsey and Olmsted Counties did not violate state statute in their processes of appointing deputy county auditors to help process absentee ballots during the 2020 election.
The Minnesota Voters Alliance filed lawsuits in June and July 2020 arguing that statutory requirements for how election judges are appointed, specifically off approved partisan lists, also apply to deputy county auditors. But in the ruling, Anderson wrote the statute was clear in distinguishing between deputy county auditors and election judges and the restrictions that may or may not apply to the roles. While election judges need to be appointed from a list of candidates supplied by major political parties and must disclose their personal political affiliation, that is not the case for deputy county auditors serving on absentee ballot boards.
The Alliance did not make any allegations of misconduct, fraud or negligence by any members of any absentee ballot boards but rather argued that the government entities had impermissibly appointed ineligible individuals to serve on their absentee ballot boards.
In Ramsey County, the Board of Commissioners established an absentee ballot board for the 2020 elections consisting of 62 election judges — three from major party lists and 59 from other sources — as well as five deputy county auditors. No more than half of the 62 election judges on the ballot board were affiliated with the same major party and all election judges disclosed their major party affiliation or non-affiliation. Party affiliations from the deputy county auditors were not collected.
In Olmsted County, its respective Board of Commissioners created a board consisting of 18 deputy county auditors that were employees of the Olmsted County Property Records and Licensing Elections as well as eight election judges — four each from the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and the Republican Party of Minnesota. The county collected statements of party affiliation from the deputy county auditors as well and no more than half were affiliated with any single major political party.
"The plain language of the statute distinguishes between election judges and deputy county auditors and permits both to serve on absentee ballot boards," the ruling read.
The case reached the state's highest court after the civil lawsuits against Ramsey and Olmsted counties, as well as lawsuits against the cities of Duluth and Minneapolis, were dismissed in September 2020 by district courts on the grounds that the Alliance had not proven a violation of duty clearly imposed by law, a public wrong that was specifically injurious to the Alliance or a lack of other adequate remedies. The rulings in relation to Ramsey and Olmsted counties as well as the City of Duluth were appealed a month later and the Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld the rulings. The Alliance petitioned for a review by the state Supreme Court with regard to Ramsey and Olmsted counties.
In a footnote, Anderson wrote that while it is true the use of absentee ballots has grown in the last decade, it is also true that the Legislature has not found it necessary to amend state statute addressing ballot boards.
"Our role is limited to interpreting the current law; it is not our place to decide whether a law represents appropriate or preferred policy," the ruling reads."Whether changes in how Minnesotans cast their ballots are issues of concern, and what amendments, if any, should be made to the voting framework in our state, are matters for legislative consideration and not action by our court."
