House oversight probe puts Minnesota elections under scrutiny over noncitizen voting concerns
EXCLUSIVE: House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil sent oversight letters to election officials in 10 states, including Minnesota, seeking details on voter roll maintenance and safeguards against noncitizen voting.
The move puts Minnesota’s election system under renewed scrutiny as Republicans press states for compliance with federal election law.
Steil, R-Wis., wrote to both red and blue states — including Minnesota, Illinois, Maine, Indiana, Tennessee, Kansas, California, Ohio and Florida, noting that his committee has broad oversight of federal elections — and that public confidence in such elections is a "compelling interest of Congress and the states."
"When illegal aliens are found on state voter rolls, it significantly undermines Americans’ confidence in our elections," Steil told Fox News Digital Thursday.
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"I will continue to seek answers on how frequently this happens and what states are doing to address the issue. American elections are for American citizens only."
Such concerns made national headlines when illegal immigrant Ian Roberts, serving as a high-paid school superintendent in Iowa, was found to be allegedly fraudulently registered to vote in Maryland.
Steil said at the time that Annapolis, Maryland, failed to provide him complete answers on the matter and left serious concerns unresolved, including whether Roberts ever received a live ballot or if the Old Line State drew the line with new protocols to verify citizenship.
In his letter to Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, Steil wrote that his panel will be conducting oversight to review the state office’s compliance with federal election laws and potential legislative reforms.
Steil noted Simon previously said that Minnesota’s elections are "free, fair and secure," but that the state’s "driver’s license for all" initiative may belie that.
He gave Simon, and the other secretaries of state, a two-week deadline to provide a series of datapoints to aid in the congressional investigation, including how often the states conduct general voter list maintenance, sources used to identify ineligible voter registrants, whether they utilize free data provided to states by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services known as the "systematic alien verification for entitlements database," and whether they have data-sharing agreements with other states as an added safeguard.
The chairman’s letters also demanded information on how states remove deceased and relocated registrants to prevent fraud, and how they notify ineligible registrants already on the rolls.
A carbon copy of each letter was also sent to House Administration Committee ranking member Joe Morelle, D-N.Y.
Minnesota’s voting system also came under scrutiny over its "vouching" policy, which allows a registered voter to "vouch" for up to eight other people seeking same-day registration.
An official in Simon’s office told Fox News Digital that the vouching policy has been intact for "more than 50 years."
Simon deputy communications director Cassondra Knudson said at the time that several measures are in place to help keep the election system in Minnesota secure under the vouching policy, and that "vouching can only be used to provide proof of a potential voter’s residence in the precinct."