{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://emmer.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/icymi-emmer-demands-answers-over-noncitizens-receiving-ballots-in-minnesota-elections", "ICYMI: Emmer demands answers over noncitizens receiving ballots in Minnesota elections", "2024-10-02", "2024", "2024-10", "Republican", "House", "MN", "Tom Emmer", "E000294", "emmer.house.gov", "emmer", "https://emmer.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Congressman Tom Emmer, along with Committee on House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil and the rest of the Minnesota Republican delegation, sent a letter to Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon and Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson voicing their concerns over reports that noncitizens in Minnesota have been receiving ballots.\n\nIn case you missed it\u2026\n\nEXCLUSIVE: Emmer, GOP colleagues demand answers as concerns about noncitizen voting grow\n\nAlpha News\n\nLuke Sprinkel\n\nOctober 1, 2024\n\nhttps://alphanews.org/exclusive-emmer-gop-colleagues-demand-answers-as-concerns-about-noncitizen-voting-grow/\n\nHouse Majority Whip Tom Emmer and his congressional colleagues are demanding answers from the Minnesota Secretary of State and the Minnesota Department of Public Safety to ensure ineligible, noncitizens are not automatically registered to vote in Minnesota.\n\nLast year, Democrats in Minnesota passed a new law which automatically registers people to vote when they apply for, or update, their driver\u2019s license. That same year, Democrats also passed a law which allows illegal immigrants to obtain driver\u2019s licenses. As such, many have expressed concerns that ineligible people could become registered to vote in Minnesota.\n\nThe Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS), the agency that works in tandem with the Secretary of State to automatically register voters, confirmed last month that roughly 1,000 automatic voter registration applicant files were inactivated after being flagged for lacking documentation which prove they are eligible to vote.\n\nAdditionally, Breitbart recently reported that a legal resident, noncitizen in Minnesota said they received a primary ballot in the mail earlier this year despite the fact that they never registered to vote or requested the ballot.\n\n\u201cOnly American citizens should be voting in American elections,\u201d said Congressman Emmer in a statement to Alpha News. \u201cThis isn\u2019t controversial\u2014it\u2019s common sense. We will continue to demand answers from the Walz Administration until we are sure that only eligible citizens are casting ballots in our elections.\u201d\n\nAs such, Majority Whip Emmer and Congressman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., the chairman of the Committee on House Administration, sent a letter Tuesday demanding answers from both DPS and the Office of the Secretary of State (OSS). Emmer and Steil were joined by three of Emmer\u2019s Minnesota congressional colleagues: Republican Reps. Pete Stauber, Michelle Fischbach, and Brad Finstad.\n\n\u201cMinnesota began [automatic voter registration] in April 2024 and now registers voters when they renew a state-issued identification, such as a driver\u2019s license, which is now available for noncitizens,\u201d wrote the group. \u201cThe combination of [automatic voter registration] and Driver\u2019s License for All could be the fatal combination that led to the report of this and other noncitizens receiving a primary ballot in the mail.\u201d\n\nReferencing the roughly 1,000 records that were inactivated in Minnesota, the letter said \u201cany instance of ineligible voters is a disservice to Minnesotans and must be investigated fully. Additionally, this is just one source that points to the indication that noncitizens have access to federal elections, in violation of federal law.\u201d\n\nIn turn, DPS Commissioner Bob Jacobson and Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon were asked a series of questions. Among those questions, the lawmakers sought information on investigations into the inactivated people, whether those inactivated people had voted in previous elections, and what steps are being taken by the agencies to ensure ineligible voters are not registered to vote.\n\n\u201cWhen Governor Walz gave driver\u2019s licenses to illegals combined with automatic voter registration, it created an alarming, higher than ever potential for fraud and voting by noncitizens,\u201d said Congressman Stauber. \u201cSecretary Simon and Commissioner Jacobson must act to protect the integrity of our elections from the Governor\u2019s poor decisions. I am grateful to join Chairman Steil and Minnesota Republicans in providing oversight and look forward to receiving assurances that only every legal vote will count in the upcoming election.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have spent significant time this Congress taking steps to ensure that noncitizens are not voting in federal elections and that States have the tools to clean their voter rolls,\u201d Congressman Steil added. \u201cAs we rapidly approach Election Day, Americans deserve confidence that Minnesota has the right procedures in place to prevent noncitizen voting. This troubling circumstance does not inspire that confidence.\u201d\n\nThe Secretary of State\u2019s Office has previously insisted that adequate safeguards are in place to ensure that noncitizens do not vote in U.S. elections.\n\n\u201cTo be clear\u2014non-citizens are not eligible to vote in Minnesota. The Voter Registration Application requires applicants to certify they are U.S. Citizens,\u201d a spokesperson previously told Alpha News. \u201cAdditionally, the State Voter Registration System has several safeguards to check citizenship status through data provided by other state and federal agencies. It is a felony to register to vote or vote while ineligible. If convicted of a felony, non-citizens are at risk of deportation.\u201d\n\nIn a September press release, the Secretary of State\u2019s Office discussed the inactivated records and said it has worked with DPS \u201cto add additional quality assurance to the process to catch and correct the instances of human error.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:57:20Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://emmer.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/icymi-emmer-demands-answers-over-noncitizens-receiving-ballots-in-minnesota-elections"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.8577617593109608, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}