Emergency Election Integrity Case Filed with MN Supreme Court – Hennepin, Anoka, City of Plymouth

Minnesota Voters Alliance has just filed a new petition with the Minnesota Supreme Court to enforce current election law governing absentee ballot boards. The petition names the City of Plymouth, Hennepin County, and Anoka County for failing to establish ballot boards in the manner required by state law.

Transparency and Bi-partisan oversight are crucial elements of a fair election process, but we’ve found both to be sorely lacking when it comes to adjudicating absentee ballots in some Minnesota communities.

Absentee ballot boards are responsible for accepting and rejecting absentee ballots and are supposed to consist of party-balanced election judges and may also employ election department staff. The governing bodies are responsible, by ordinance or resolution, to establish and populate these ballot boards in a manner that allows public scrutiny of the appointees to the board and ensure bi-partisan oversight and fairness in the absentee voting process.

Since these governmental bodies have failed to properly establish or appoint members to these boards and the 2026 election season is already upon us, we’ve brought the case straight to the Minnesota Supreme Court for speedy resolution under Minnesota’s Errors and Omissions election statute.

While only three governing bodies are named in the case, the High Court’s opinion will provide a statewide precedent and clarity of the laws governing the establishment of absentee ballot boards.

Absentee ballots now account for a large share of Minnesota’s votes and MVA argues that voters deserve to know who is making the important decisions about accepting and rejecting our ballots. Further, election procedures should be applied uniformly across the state, but our investigation has shown wide variation in how different local governments are establishing and operating their ballot boards.

The relief we’ve requested is straightforward: declare the challenged ballot boards unlawful, require properly established ballot boards with named members, and ensure consistent application of Minnesota election law before this November’s election.