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Capitol View®
Tim Pugmire

Ritchie, state respond to online voter registration lawsuit

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Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie is insisting that current law allows him to accept voter registrations that are submitted electronically.

Ritchie formally responded today to a lawsuit challenging his recent launch of an online voter registration system. Four Republican legislators and two election watchdog groups filed the lawsuit in Ramsey County claiming the secretary of state, a Democrat, exceeded his constitutional authority.

But in a court brief on behalf of Ritchie, lawyers from the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, noted that the state has accepted voter registration applications electronically since 2004.

“Petitioners’ selective reading of the Minnesota’s voter registration statutes is inconsistent with the state’s elections law and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act,” they wrote.

State lawyers also argued that the lawsuit’s attempt to nullify the online registrations already completed would be unlawful.

A court hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled for next Friday.

Read Ritchie's response here: