DOJ sues Steve Simon over voter list access
This morning, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Minnesota. The suit was filed against the Minnesota Secretary of State (SOS) Steve Simon for his refusal to provide access to the statewide voter registration list.
In the court’s classification system, the lawsuit is indexed as a “civil rights” matter. The DOJ put out a press release this afternoon,
Today the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced the filing of federal lawsuits against six states — California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania — for failure to produce their statewide voter registration lists upon request.
The 17-page complaint filed by the DOJ can be read here. The complaint documents that the list was first requested by DOJ on June 25 (p. 8, paragraph 28). On July 25, Simon refused to provide the list (p. 9, paragraph 30). Another exchange of letters occurred in August, with continued noncompliance.
Simon’s office has cited state law for its refusals comply with the DOJ’s request. I’m not a lawyer, but I understand the federal law preempts state law. (p. 15, paragraph C).
Hours after your correspondent first broke the news (11:20 am), other outlets finally took notice.
- MPR News: (1:39 pm) Trump’s DOJ sues Minnesota election official over voter registration data
- Star Tribune: (2:07 pm) Feds sue Minnesota Secretary of State over refusal to hand over voter rolls
- KSTP-5: DOJ sues Minnesota Secretary of State Simon over refusal to turn over voter rolls
The Star Tribune’s account includes the following,
Reuters reported earlier this month that the DOJ is considering transferring sensitive voter data to be used in criminal and immigration-related investigations.
“Immigration”? Yes, you will recall that Simon has already been caught registering more than 1,000 noncitizens to vote, contrary to both state and federal law.
He called it a “glitch.”