Fittingly, on election day Nov. 5, the MN Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments regarding release of public voter data.

The case is Minnesota Voters Alliance (MVA) v. Secretary of State (SOS) Steve Simon and the hearing will be Tuesday, November 5, 2019, at 9:00 a.m., in the 2nd-floor courtroom at the State Capitol Building, 75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, St. Paul, MN 55155.

MVA v. Simon is a landmark case involving the Secretary’s refusal to provide the public with full voting information on every voter (as the law requires), so the public can effectively evaluate the Secretary of State’s performance and assess the true amount of ineligible voting that continues to occur in our elections.

So far, four judges have reviewed the case. Most recently, on April 15, 2019, a panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld the Ramsey County District Court decision and ruled 3-0 in favor of MVA, that election records in the Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS) are public data and must be released by Secretary of State Steve Simon.

The MVA seeks the same ruling won previously, namely, that the Secretary must stop hiding critical, public data on elections and turn the data over to the public. Secretary Simon's arguments are the same logical contortions and strained assertions that have failed in the lower courts.

Here is a link to MVA’s 65-page response brief that was submitted to the Minnesota Supreme Court.

This is an extremely important case that will likely have an impact on the integrity and credibility of our elections for decades to come, and perhaps also more generally on the ability of state agencies to obstruct public scrutiny of their performance of official duties.

The hearing is open to the public.  Be aware that the courtroom has a very limited seating capacity: only 36 seats are available in the courtroom.  This includes seating for attorneys involved in oral arguments and their clients. So, to ensure you get a seat, it’s recommended that you arrive around 8:30 a.m. The arguments are also live-streamed, with a link posted 30 minutes prior to start on the MN Supreme Court page here under the “Attending/Viewing Oral Arguments” tab.

Recorded videos are generally posted by 5 p.m. the same day of the arguments and will be viewable at the court’s webcast page 

More information regarding the case is on the Minnesota Voters Alliance website.