• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Events
  • Civic Ed
  • Campaign Finance
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • Independent Voter News
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Voting>
  3. voter assistance>

Second suit challenges limits on helping others vote in Minnesota

Our Staff
February 13, 2020
Disabled voting

The suit challenges state-imposed limits on how much help people are allowed to give to disabled voters, including the visually impaired and people who do not speak English.

Scott Olson/ Getty Images

Four Hmong-Americans are challenging Minnesota's restrictions on who may assist voters in casting their ballots.

It is the second lawsuit this year claiming state law discriminates against disabled and non-English-speaking voters who need the help of others when they vote. Three weeks ago the Democratic Party's House and Senate campaign committees brought a similar claim. Both were filed in state court in St. Paul.

The claims are part of a surge in varied litigation by progressive groups and Democratic operatives seeking to win advances in voting rights via the courts in advance of Election Day. Most suits are being filed in presidential or congressional battleground states where the legislatures are not inclined to ease access to the ballot box.


The Minnesota statute being challenged says candidates for office may not help people vote, and others may not help more than three voters complete in-person or absentee ballots. The intent of the law is to prevent efforts by partisan agents to unwittingly manipulate the votes of elderly, disabled and non-English-speaking voters.

Tuesday's suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, argues the law places a particular burden on the large communities of Somalis and Hmong people from Southeast Asia who have settled in Minnesota — in violation of both the federal and state constitutions and the Voting Rights Act.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

One of the plaintiffs, St. Paul City Council member Dai Thao, was running for mayor in 2017 when he was arrested for helping a neighbor, a Hmong woman who had trouble seeing, cast her ballot. He was later acquitted.

"Voting is a fundamental right in our democracy, and it's disgraceful that state law makes it more difficult to vote for people who have a disability, cannot read or write, or face language barriers," ACLU attorney David McKinney said in a statement.

The Twin Cities has the nation's largest Hmong population. In addition, about 11 percent of Minnesotans have a disability, according to the ACLU.

From Your Site Articles
  • Minnesota limits on voting helpers is illegal - The Fulcrum ›
  • Minnesota National Guard to help with election security - The Fulcrum ›
  • Lawsuit: Felons should be allowed to vote in Minnesota - The Fulcrum ›
  • Help at the polls won't be limited in Minnesota - The Fulcrum ›
  • Minnesota is the latest state sued over absentee voting - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • Minnesota Election Center - Vote.org ›
  • Election Day Voting - Minnesota Secretary Of State ›
  • Elections & Voting - Minnesota Secretary Of State ›
voter assistance

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

Reform in 2023: Leadership worth celebrating

Layla Zaidane

Two technology balancing acts

Dave Anderson

Reform in 2023: It’s time for the civil rights community to embrace independent voters

Jeremy Gruber

Congress’ fix to presidential votes lights the way for broader election reform

Kevin Johnson

Democrats and Republicans want the status quo, but we need to move Forward

Christine Todd Whitman

Reform in 2023: Building a beacon of hope in Boston

Henry Santana
Jerren Chang
latest News

Your Take: Religious beliefs

Our Staff
03 February

Remembering the four chaplains eighty years later

Rabbi Charles Savenor
03 February

Podcast: Anti-racism: The pro-human approach

Our Staff
03 February

Ron DeSantis and the rise of political racism

Lawrence Goldstone
02 February

Curriculum regulations and book bans: Modern day anti-literacy laws?

Katherine Kapustka
02 February

Podcast: 2024 Senate: Democrats have a lot of defending to do

Our Staff
02 February
Videos

Video: The dignity index

Our Staff

Video: The Supreme Court and originalism

Our Staff

Video: How the baby boom changed American politics

Our Staff

Video: What the speakership election tells us about the 118th Congress webinar

Our Staff

Video: We need more bipartisan commitment to democracy: Pennsylvania governor

Our Staff

Video: Meet the citizen activists championing primary reform

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Anti-racism: The pro-human approach

Our Staff
03 February

Podcast: 2024 Senate: Democrats have a lot of defending to do

Our Staff
02 February

Podcast: Collage: The promise of Black History Month

Our Staff
01 February

Podcast: Separating news from noise

Our Staff
30 January
Recommended
Your Take: Religious beliefs

Your Take: Religious beliefs

Your Take
Remembering the four chaplains eighty years later

Remembering the four chaplains eighty years later

Civic Ed
Podcast: Anti-racism: The pro-human approach

Podcast: Anti-racism: The pro-human approach

Podcasts
Video: The dignity index

Video: The dignity index

Ron DeSantis and the rise of political racism

Ron DeSantis and the rise of political racism

Big Picture
Curriculum regulations and book bans: Modern day anti-literacy laws?

Curriculum regulations and book bans: Modern day anti-literacy laws?

Big Picture