Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon has flatly rejected a request by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi seeking access to the state’s voter registration rolls, calling the demand unlawful and an attempt to coerce the disclosure of private voter data.
In a statement released following a letter Bondi sent to Governor Tim Walz, Simon said: “The answer to Attorney General Bondi’s request is no.”
Bondi’s correspondence reportedly outlined three demands she said would “restore the rule of law” in Minnesota, including a request that the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division be granted access to Minnesota’s voter rolls.
Simon characterized the request as an “outrageous attempt” to compel Minnesota to turn over sensitive personal information—including Social Security numbers and driver’s license data—protected under both state and federal law. He noted that the DOJ has made repeated attempts to obtain the same data and that his office has consistently declined.
According to Simon, Minnesota has already provided the DOJ with a detailed explanation of how its voter registration system is managed and secured. He added that his office has offered to share voter information that is already public, but the DOJ has rejected those proposals in favor of seeking access to non-public records.
The secretary of state also emphasized that Governor Walz has no formal authority over election administration or voter registration, and that the issue raised by Bondi is already the subject of active litigation involving Simon’s office.
“Our position on the federal government’s request to access Minnesota voting records starts and ends with the law,” Simon said. “The law does not give the federal government the authority to obtain this private data.”
Simon further noted that Minnesota is not alone in resisting similar federal requests, stating that 31 states have declined to disclose sensitive voter information, with the DOJ currently in litigation against 24 of them. Courts, he said, have already dismissed the DOJ’s claims in several cases.
Beyond the voter data dispute, Simon sharply criticized federal immigration enforcement activity in Minnesota, describing it as destabilizing and counterproductive, and called for de-escalation. He urged Minnesotans to remain peaceful and law-abiding amid heightened tensions, stressing that the protection of voter privacy remains a legal obligation his office will continue to uphold.
The letter from Attorney General Bondi was sent on the same day a federal law enforcement operation resulted in the death of a Minnesota resident, a timing Simon described as deeply troubling in light of what he framed as an attempt to tie voter data access to broader federal enforcement actions.
