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The Supreme Court of Minnesota had to jump in and rescue the state after two counties had mistakes on their election ballots.
The ballots that were sent in Kittson and Roseau counties did not include party affiliation for all federal and state offices, other than governor and the incumbency status of those in judicial elections was missing, The Tennessee Star reported.
A total of 1,791 ballots were mailed out and 25 had been accepted as of Oct. 8, Kittson County Administrator Brian Buhmann said.
“To protect the electorate’s right to the candidate information prescribed by state law, every voter who attempted to vote on the old, inadequate ballot must, at a minimum, be informed that it contained insufficient information and then be given an opportunity to spoil their ballot and vote a new ballot that conforms to state law,” an attorney for the office of the Secretary of State said.
The counties said the ballots were prepared by SeaChange Printing and Marketing Services using data from the secretary of state. SeaChange then provided the counties with a proof of the ballot for final approval. The counties failed to catch the omissions during this process, according to court filings.
This comes after Ramsey County sent out 1,198 ballots with a deceased candidate’s name on them. The Supreme Court expedited the case and directed the county to print corrected ballots.
Voters who cast a ballot for the deceased candidate can choose to spoil their ballot and request a new one. If they choose not to, then their vote for the deceased candidate will not count, but their votes in all other races will be transferred to a replacement ballot and counted.
Republican Party of Minnesota communications director Nick Majerus said Secretary of State Steve Simon should be “working with county elections officials to make sure voters will get the right ballots at the right time” instead of “using his office to pursue a partisan political agenda.”
Last week, in a unanimous decision, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled that universal mail-in balloting and same-day voter registration both violate the state constitution. “The Vote-by-Mail Statute impermissibly expands the categories of absentee voters identified in Article V, Section 4A of the Delaware Constitution. Therefore, the judgment of the Court of Chancery that the Vote-by-Mail Statute violates the Delaware Constitution should be affirmed,” the court wrote.
Reports noted that while absentee voting in the state is legal, there are restrictions. For instance, voters must be unable to actually reach their polling place due to a physical disability or a chronic illness that prevents them from being able to cast a ballot in person.
“The Vote-by-Mail Statute impermissibly expands the categories of absentee voters identified in Article V, Section 4A of the Delaware Constitution. Therefore, the judgment of the Court of Chancery that the Vote-by-Mail Statute violates the Delaware Constitution should be affirmed,” the court wrote.
“The Same-Day Registration Statute conflicts with the provisions of Article V, Section 4 of the Delaware Constitution. Consequently, the judgment of the Court of Chancery that the Same-Day Registration Statute does not violate the Delaware Constitution should be reversed. The Court enters this abbreviated order in recognition of the impending election scheduled for November 8, 2022, and the Department of Election’s desire to mail ballots to voters by or around October 10, 2022,” the ruling noted further. “A more formal opinion, fully explaining the Court’s views and the reasons supporting our unanimous decision, will issue in due course. The mandate shall issue immediately.”
Ayonne “Nick” Miles, a plaintiff in the lawsuit that sought to overturn the rules implemented ahead of the 2020 elections, said the case was never about the statute itself, but the way it became law.
“This has always been about the process and the fact that the General Assembly brazenly disregarded the amendment process and thought they were untouchable and couldn’t be challenged,” Miles said. “The highest court in Delaware just put them in their place.”
Sen. Kyle Evans Gay, a Democrat who sponsored legislation in the historically blue state that is home to President Joe Biden, said he was disappointed in the high court’s decision but at least praised the process.
“I’m disappointed by the Supreme Court’s ruling but I respect it entirely,” Gay told Delaware LIVE News. “I’m just really thankful that we now have certainty in what we need to do in order to continue to expand voting rights.”
She added that she still believes her interpretation of the Constitution, that it provides “a floor, not a ceiling” to the reasons residents can vote absentee, the report said.
“But the Supreme Court disagreed, and as I said on the Senate floor, that is our system of democracy — that is our checks and balances,” Gay said. “The Supreme Court has done its part and it’s now up to the legislature to do its part to [enact] the policies that we want to be enacted. It’s not impossible. It just has to be done differently.”
