A Minnesota city is suing the state. Why? Conspiracy-fueled opposition to election software

All but three Minnesota counties use electronic poll books. Anoka County is in the majority that relies on the secure method for tracking voter names and information on a roster.

But the city Oak Grove doesn’t want to follow the 2018 countywide agreement that keeps voter rosters electronic. The city instead favors paper rosters, a method championed by election skeptics, which has not been used in most of the state or country for years. 

Experts say the move away from paper rosters was for good reason. Electronic Poll Books (EPBs), also called poll pads, speed up long lines at voting sites, ensure accurate data collection and provide more privacy when voters check in before voting.

The Bipartisan Policy Center recommends EPBs for every voting site, and the Election Assistance Administration has called them “an increasingly vital tool in election administration.”

Represented by the conservative-backed Upper Midwest Legal Group, Oak Grove sued Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon (D) and Anoka County’s top election officials, claiming the county is trying to “distort the law to wrench away local administration on a politically controversial topic” and asked the Minnesota Supreme Court to hear its case.

Oak Grove also said the county threatened the city with legal action if it didn’t agree to continue using electronic poll books. It cited part of Minnesota law its attorneys argue gives the city, and not the county or state, authority to oversee statewide elections.

Anoka County said the city has it all wrong, claiming county leaders, specifically the county auditor, head election administration. 

“That interpretation of Section 201.225 ignores the plain language of Minnesota’s election laws, which plainly make counties (not cities) the entities primarily responsible for administering elections in Minnesota,” Anoka County Attorney Brad Johnson wrote.

And counter to Oak Grove’s argument, the county said paper rosters are actually more susceptible to privacy breaches and potential fraud than electronic ones.

“The decision to use electronic rosters was not made for mere aesthetics,” Johnson wrote. “Electronic rosters make elections safer, more private, more secure, and more efficient”

The League of Women Voters also submitted an amicus brief in support of the county and state July 30, arguing Oak Grove City’s challenge threatens statewide election administration.

The case was fully briefed Wednesday, meaning the Minnesota Supreme Court can now rule on it.

No evidence of fraud

When asked about the fight for paper poll books on grounds of election fraud, Nicholas Nelson, the attorney representing Oak Grove, said the city “knows people have expressed those concerns and it’s attempting to address people’s concerns,” in a May press conference.

And when asked about past instances when electronic poll books were insufficient or led to fraudulent voting, Nelson could recall none, instead offering hypothetical technical issues.

“What if the equipment doesn’t work? What happens if the internet connection goes down?” Nelson asked.

The attorney then seemingly mitigated his own concerns about reliability when he said state law already requires voting sites to have paper rosters as back-ups for any technology issues.

Nelson said there are “many jurisdictions” across Minnesota that use paper rosters. However, publicly available statewide data says otherwise. 

In fact, there are only three counties in the entire state that use paper poll books, as of the most recent numbers available from 2022. Anoka County has used electronic poll books since 2018.

“We are not aware of any instances or issues (security-related or otherwise) using electronic pollbooks,” Anoka County Chief Communications Officer Erik Thorson said in an email to Democracy Docket. “The use of electronic pollbooks has benefited residents and provided greater efficiencies for election judges and administrators.”

The county also noted in its response to the suit that there would be consequences to a last-minute switch to paper ballots. Election judges have already been trained on the current poll book system, and a change could risk confusing voters, the county said.

Local group amplifies national conservative dogwhistle

Mayor Weston Rolf of Oak Grove City isn’t the only person who’s called for the banning of poll books. The conservative dogwhistle was floated in May by prominent election conspiracist Cleta Mitchell and her Election Integrity Network (EIN).

EIN released what it called “model election laws” that would harshly restrict access to the ballot box. It called for, among a myriad of suppressive voting measures, banning electronic poll books. 

“All voter activity recorded in manual poll books shall be preserved as part of the permanent election record and shall be available for public inspection consistent with state law,” read the handbook.

Back in Minnesota, the charge is being led by a group of around two dozen people who describe themselves as “election verifiers.” They’re a part of the Anoka County Election Integrity Team (ACEIT) and they’ve been making the rounds at city council meetings across Anoka to push their suppressive platform. 

The group claims it’s nonpartisan. Its website homepage features a documentary comparing Democratic Gov. Tim Walz to Mao Zedong, and the first post on the group’s little-known Instagram page celebrates Trump’s 2025 anti-voting executive order.

ACEIT did not respond to Democracy Docket’s requests for comment to clarify the local team’s connection, if any, to Mitchell’s national organization. But when it comes to ideology and agenda, the similarities are glaring.

The Anoka group has admitted its work was catalyzed by Trump’s 2020 presidential bid, which he lost.

“I’m looking at the battleground states: Florida, Iowa, Ohio,” ACEIT member Derek Lind recalled from the night of the 2020 election. “Trump had large leads there, and I couldn’t understand why they didn’t call Florida. And then they called Arizona.”

In recent years, members of the ACEIT have presented at cities across Minnesota to urge council members to take up the mantle on altering election law to their will. With handouts and talking points at the ready, group members give similar spiels about the dangers of electronic poll books.

In a February 2025 town hall meeting in St. Francis, ACEIT member Aaron Groshong cast doubt on electronic poll books, calling an iPad with voter data a “black box” and saying “you don’t know what’s in it.”

Lind has appeared at multiple public meetings with almost identical speeches for different cities.

“It gives people access to our election data,” Lind said of electronic poll books at a meeting of the Blaine city council in February 2025.

Thorson, the Anoka County communications lead, told Democracy Docket that poll books are encrypted and not connected to ballot tabulators.