The Minnesota Supreme Court after this morning’s (Tues) hearing is considering whether to order Secretary of State Steve Simon to release certain voter information to a conservative watchdog group that’s suing the state. Minnesota Voters Alliance attorney Erick Kaardal argues if data on inactive voters is not released, “This is hamstringing both Democratic and Republican parties in getting people out to register to vote.”
Justice Paul Thissen asked Assistant Attorney General Christopher Kaisershot, who contends the information should *not* be released, “Is your argument that the inactive and deceased voters are not registered voters that need to be disclosed because the statute says so, or because it’s within the Secretary’s discretion *not* to disclose that information?” Kaisershot responded, “Because the public information list specifies that it is for the voters in that county.” Thissen: “So it is the statutory language of the voters in that county?” Kaisershot: “Yes.”
The issue of unintended consequences of releasing the voter data also came up in this morning’s hearing. Justice David Lillehaug asked Minnesota Voters Alliance attorney Kaardal, “Let’s say Amazon or Google would like to have the data on everybody’s e-mail address. Would they need to use this information only for a political or election-related purpose, or could they use it for their own kind of marketing?” Kaardal responded, “Yes, they could get the names and addresses, but they already can. That information–” Lillehaug interjected, “I’m talking about the e-mail addresses.” Kaardal responded, “Oh, the e-mail addresses. Yeah, they could get the e-mail addresses.” But Kaardal says the Secretary of State could also ask for a “temporary classification” to protect that information from marketers.