The Republican National Committee and the Minnesota Republican Party sent a letter to the state's Department of Public Safety saying the administration of Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, has not explained how out-of-state residents were able to get onto the state's voter rolls.
Kevin Kline, election integrity counsel for the Republican National Committee, and David Hahn, chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party, first wrote the Walz administration last month, pointing out how foreign nationals who live legally in the state and fear their status would be at risk reported receiving primary ballots without registering to vote.
Minnesota Department of Public Safety Director Bob Jacobson responded to Klein and Hahn earlier this week.
In his letter, he explained that the Department of Public Safety's Driver and Vehicle Services Division (DVS) “takes numerous steps to ensure that only U.S. citizen information is forwarded to the Secretary of State's Office. This includes only reviewing a specific list of documents that qualify as proof of citizenship to determine if an applicant is a U.S. citizen. The process includes a second review at the time of issuance of an applicant's documents to confirm their classification in the system.
Minnesota Republican Party calls for investigation after claims of foreign nationals receiving primary ballots without registering to vote
If DVS determines a document has been misclassified as valid proof of citizenship, DVS will correct the classification and will not send the record to the Secretary of State's office for automatic voter registration, Jacobson wrote. He added that DVS is also conducting “thorough manual reviews” of all records identified as eligible for AVR since the law went into effect in 2023 “to ensure this fall's elections are fair and secure.”
Kamala Harris visits with marching band members and listens to vice presidential candidate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speak at Liberty County High School in Hinesville, Georgia, on August 28, 2024. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
That answer didn't satisfy either Klein or Han, who in a new letter sent Thursday noted that Gov. Walz signed a bill in March 2023 that would allow undocumented aliens to obtain driver's licenses, aka “Drivers for All.” Less than two months after signing that bill, Walz signed the Democracy for the People Act, which allows automatic voter registration through DVS, Klein and Han said.
“While we appreciate your explanation of how the Division of Driver and Vehicle Services (DVS) works to verify that each applicant is a U.S. citizen, your response does not explain how a non-U.S. citizen gets through that process and ultimately ends up on Minnesota's voter rolls,” Klein and Hahn said in the letter, obtained by Fox News Digital on Thursday.
“This is not a hypothetical. Lawful aliens are registered to vote through your office, and Minnesota voters deserve transparency from your office to understand how this failure occurred and how it is being addressed.”
“This issue is of particular concern because the sequence of events leading up to the implementation of Minnesota's AVR system, introduced by Governor and Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz, creates the impression that the system was implemented to facilitate the registration of foreign nationals,” the letter said. “Minnesota's voter registration system, in its current form, is clearly vulnerable to illegal voter registration.”
“We are concerned that your office is only now conducting a review of the records of voters who have been determined to be eligible for Automatic Voter Registration (AVR),” Klein and Han said.
Gov. Tim Walz poses with his wife, Gwen, and daughter, Hope, after casting his vote at the Lynnwood Community Recreation Center on November 8, 2022 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. (David Joles/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
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“This type of investigation should have been conducted multiple times on a consistent schedule since the introduction of the AVR,” they told Jacobson. “That your department has only now begun the investigation process suggests that an investigation is underway because the previous letter revealed deficiencies in the AVR system and brought registered foreign nationals to your attention.”
“Walz is fully aligned with Kamala's radical policies of opening the border to incursions and giving illegal immigrants free healthcare, free tuition and driver's licenses,” Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “This is clearly a Democrat plan, and they have always put foreigners first and Americans last. We will hold Walz and his administration accountable and demand a full investigation and removal of the foreigners they have admitted to the voter rolls. Minnesotans, and the American people, deserve better than Kamala and Walz cancelling their votes.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Klein and Han asked Jacobson to provide “complete and detailed answers” regarding “when the citizenship checks outlined in the September 3, 2024 letter were conducted,” “when the 'exhaustive manual review' will begin, what that review will involve, and when it will be completed,” and “whether the results of that manual review will be made public to the public.”
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speaks during a campaign rally at Temple University's Liacoras Center on August 6, 2024 in Philadelphia. (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)
The letter also sought details about how Mr. Jacobson has reported to OSS under 201.145, including how frequently reports have been sent to the Secretary of State, how many reports have been sent since the implementation of the AVR, and whether those reports include aliens who are not lawfully present in Minnesota. Mr. Jacobson was asked whether he has ever compared individuals reported under 201.145 to his own AVR records, the number of aliens who have been issued driver's licenses since the implementation of the AVR that have also been sent to OSS, and the number of individuals who have been sent to the Secretary of State since the implementation of the AVR.
“Was there pressure from the governor's office or others to speed up the registration process?” Klein and Han asked.
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“Minnesota voters should not have their voting rights diluted because of your department's failure to exclude foreign nationals from your automatic voter registration system,” they concluded. “While it is clear that mistakes were made in the design and/or implementation of the AVR system, it is not too late to be transparent and address the issues before the November election.”
