News Room
Secretary Simon Defends Minnesota’s Free and Fair Elections
SAINT PAUL – Minnesota’s elections are fair, accurate, honest, and secure. Our elections are administered locally by people within counties, cities, and townships who take an oath to uphold the law and do their work free of influence or favor. There are extensive state laws that regulate processes to protect elections before, during, and after election day including ensuring Minnesota’s voter rolls are accurate and up to date.
Over the past several months, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has reached out to many states across the country, including Minnesota, to ask for information about how their states comply with federal election laws. The DOJ sent its first letter to Minnesota on June 25, 2025. Since that time, the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State has met every deadline, providing extensive documentation to the DOJ in response to these requests - and offering opportunities for further conversation.
On Augst 13, 2025, the DOJ requested that the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State provide a, “copy of Minnesota’s statewide voter registration list (“VRL”), including both active and inactive voters... The VRL is to include all fields, including all identifiers, including the registrant’s full name, date of birth, residential address, and the last four numbers of each registrant’s social security number and the full state driver’s license number.”
As this information is protected by state and federal law, the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State responded on August 21, 2025 stating such and requesting the DOJ provide, “how it plans to use the data; what other agencies the DOJ intends to share the information with; what, if any, data matching the DOJ would conduct with the data (including what databases would be used to conduct that matching); and how its proposed uses are justified by federal law.”
Our office also invited the DOJ to discuss the matter more fully to reach an agreement that would align with state and federal laws.
The DOJ had no further communication with the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State before filing a lawsuit on September 25, 2025.
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon has issued the following statement:
“We have been very clear with the DOJ about our position that state and federal law do not allow our office to provide them with private voter data unless they provide information about how the information will be used and secured.
Since the conversation began with the DOJ in June, our office has met every deadline and provided detailed responses to all questions about the processes that keep our elections secure.
In August, our office asked for additional assurances that Minnesotans’ personal information – including their name, birthday, address, last four digits of their social security number, and driver’s license number - would be protected and used appropriately.
The DOJ remained silent – providing no information about how the data would be protected or used. Instead, they chose to file a lawsuit.
Our office has always been and will continue to be transparent with the public about the processes in place to protect our elections. We will also continue to safeguard the private information of millions of eligible Minnesota voters. Minnesotans are proud of their elections – that’s why we regularly lead the nation in voter turnout. Minnesotans know their elections are run by their neighbors, friends, and family who work diligently to ensure every eligible voter is able to cast their vote with the highest level of confidence.”
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