Minnesota House of Representatives July 5, 2017 The Honorable Steve Simon Minnesota Secretary of State 174 State Office Building 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55155 Dear Secretary Simon: As members of the Legislature, we applaud your decision to refuse to provide sensitive private data on Minnesota’s 3.6 million registered voters to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity (Commission). We strongly encourage you to continue to withhold the requested data pursuant to Minnesota Statutes governing the use of data on Minnesota citizens. ‘We Question the Commission’s Motives In our opinion, the Commission’s request for private data on Minnesota voters is a thinly-veiled attempt to raise unwarranted questions about the eligibility of Minnesota citizens to exercise their Constitutional right to vote. Minnesota Statutes provide numerous safeguards to ensure that individuals who are not eligible to vote are prevented from doing so. Those individuals who intentionally cast an ineligible vote are subject to felony prosecution to the full extent of the law. Minnesota does not need a federal Commission with a pre- determined bias looking over our shoulder for its own political purposes. Providing the requested data to the Commission may subject thousands of Minnesota citizens to unnecessary harassment, which in turn may intimidate them from continuing to participate in our elections. This is not a new tactic, For the past decade, many individuals have attempted to undermine the integrity of Minnesota’s electoral processes. Fortunately, a strong majority of Minnesota citizens have rejected those efforts and stood by public officials who have fought to enfranchise all eligible voters in Minnesota. In 2012, over 52 percent of individuals voting on a proposed Constitutional Amendment rejected an attempt to require all voters to provide a photo identification at the polling place. Minnesota Statutes Preclude the Release of Voter Data ‘The Commission’s request for Minnesota data goes well beyond the data that is available to registered voters in Minnesota. To receive limited voter data, a Minnesota registered voter must state in writing that the information will not be used for purposes unrelated to elections, political activities, or law enforcement. Minnesota Statutes (2016) §201.091, Subd. 9, states: “A list provided for public inspection or purchase, or in response to a Jaw enforcement inquiry, must not include a voter's date of birth or any partofa voter's Social Security number, driver's license number, identification card number, military identification card number, or passport number.” While Minnesota law does allow limited voter data to be made available to Minnesota's registered voters, the Commission's Vice-Chair (Kris W. Kobach) is not a registered voter in our state. Furthermore, the Commission’s purported use of the data extends well beyond Minnesota's “elections and political activities,” and the Commission has no law enforcement jurisdiction within the state that would permit it to request the data. Minnesota is already a member of the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a multi-state effort “to improve the accuracy of America’s voter rolls and increase access to voter registration for all eligible citizens.” Prior to joining ERIC, the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office sought, and received, statutory authority to share voter data with other states that are committed to respecting the privacy of the data, Minnesota Statutes (2016) §201.13, Subd, 3, recognizes the sensitivity of the data being shared with ERIC and requites the Secretary to “determine that the data security protocols are sufficient to safeguard the information or data shared.” The statutory safeguards for the data shared with ERIC are in sharp contrast to the Commission’s affirmation that “any documents that are submitted to the full Commission will also be made available to the public.” In closing, we would like to thank you for joining with many other states in your refusal to provide sensitive voter data to the Commission. If the Commission persists in its attempts to obtain the voter data, ‘we would strongly advise that it seek Minnesota statutory authority allowing you to share the sensitive data and require the Commission to respect the privacy of that data. Our best regards. Sincerely, Mike Freiberg Fue Lee State Representative State Representative Rick Hansen State Representative