June 16, 2020

By Brian Gabriel
gabriel@redistrictingfoundation.org

National Redistricting Foundation Lawsuit Leads to Consent Decree Removing Burdensome Vote-by-Mail Restrictions

Consent Decree Reached After Filing Lawsuit Challenging the State’s Witness Requirement & Ballot Receipt Deadline

Washington, D.C. — Today, plaintiffs supported by the National Redistricting Foundation in the case LaRose v. Simon entered into a stipulation and partial consent decree with Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, resolving their claims relating to the application of certain restrictions on Minnesota’s vote-by-mail system ahead of the state’s August primary. 

The consent decree achieves two crucial changes to the upcoming primary election: It provides that the state’s witness requirement will not be enforced for any mail ballots submitted by registered Minnesota voters; and it implements a postmark deadline that allows all mail ballots received by close of business two days after the election to be counted as long as they are postmarked by election day.

“These developments are a significant victory for the health and safety of all Minnesotans as they prepare to vote in their upcoming primary election,” said Eric H. Holder, Jr., the 82nd Attorney General of the United States. “In the past months, we’ve seen far too many state leaders put their citizens at risk in primary elections due either to willful inaction or a lack of preparedness. Fortunately, Minnesota voters will be relieved of some of the unnecessary obstacles preventing them from voting safely in August. However, there’s more work to be done to make sure these improvements also apply for the November election.”

Last month, a group of voters supported by the National Redistricting Foundation filed a lawsuit in Minnesota challenging the state’s absentee voting restrictions that will unjustifiably burden the voting rights of Minnesota voters as the nation responds to the COVID-19 pandemic. Plaintiffs in the suit include four individual voter-plaintiffs, along with the Minnesota Alliance for Retired Americans Educational Fund. 
The National Redistricting Foundation is the 501(c)(3) affiliate of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, and was formed in 2017 to engage in work that protects voting rights and challenges gerrymandered congressional and state legislative districts. The National Redistricting Foundation has funded and executed lawsuits that include, but are not limited to, overturning gerrymandered congressional and state legislative maps in North Carolina, successfully challenging the Trump Administration’s attempt to add a citizenship question to the Census, and protecting Wisconsin voters from former Governor Scott Walker’s refusal to call special elections and attacks on early voting.

You can download a filed copy of the complaint here.

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