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Minnesota city urges state Supreme Court to allow return to paper voter rosters
Filed 17h ago · Via Courthouse News · The Buffoon Desk
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Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0
Photo: Matt Buck from London, United Kingdom · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
The Minnesota Supreme Court heard arguments over whether Oak Grove can revert to paper voter rosters for statewide elections after the Secretary of State's office rejected the city's 2024 resolution to do so. County and state attorneys argue that for elections spanning county or statewide jurisdictions, the county auditor has final say, while Oak Grove points to statutory language letting municipalities choose electronic or paper rosters.
Justices pressed both sides, with Chief Justice Natalie Hudson noting uniformity isn't guaranteed even under the state's preferred reading, since county officials could still choose formats arbitrarily. Chief Justice Hudson also questioned whether the Legislature ever anticipated this exact dispute, and the court said it would rule quickly given the approaching general election.
The full dispatch is available from the source below.
✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK
Watching a courtroom argue over who gets to pick a poll book format while the election clock ticks down is its own kind of lesson in how badly a statute can be written. Nobody in that room, including the justices, seemed convinced the Legislature ever thought this fight through, which is a fairly honest thing for a judge to say out loud. Oak Grove wants paper because paper can't crash; the state wants electronic because paper is slower, and the law apparently forgot to referee that argument in advance.
