The Minnesota Voters Alliance declined Tuesday to release the names of what the group says are 59 people who cast fraudulent votes in St. Louis County during the November 2008 election.
"Our position is that we turned the names over to the St. Louis County Attorney's Office. Now it's up to them to determine whether to pursue prosecutions," said Steve Townsend, president of the Duluth Chapter of the Alliance.
One day after holding a news conference to air the Alliance's concerns about local voter fraud, Townsend said the group doesn't want to prejudge any of the cases.
"As far as we're concerned, they're all innocent until proven guilty," he said. "We don't want to besmirch any of their names prematurely."
Townsend said that someone wrongly identified in public as suspected of voter fraud could possibly pursue legal recourse against his or her accuser.
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Assistant St. Louis County Attorney Leslie Beiers said she could confirm that her office received an affidavit and attachment from Minnesota Majority, a member organization of the Minnesota Voters Alliance, last week.
But she declined to make those documents immediately available to the Duluth News Tribune, asking that the newspaper submit a written request.
The News Tribune filed a Freedom of Information Act request Tuesday but had received no response as of press time.
Beiers said her office will review the newspaper's request but noted: "Typically such documents are not subject to disclosure during the course of an active investigation."
The latest documents promise to launch the office's third examination of possible voting irregularities in St. Louis County.
The first was prompted by a review by the auditor's office, cross-checking the list of voters against crime records and also flagging any inconsistencies, such as people voting twice or casting their ballot in the wrong township.
Out of about 20 cases investigated, Beiers said just three emerged as legitimate problems. However, she said there was insufficient evidence to press any charges. To win a conviction for voter fraud, the prosecution must prove a violation was intentional.
A second investigation was prompted when Minnesota Majority submitted an Excel spreadsheet containing the names of 2,500 suspicious voters across the state earlier this year, but Beiers said only 21 individuals on the list were found to have any connection with St. Louis County.
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Of those 21 potential fraud cases, she said 19 were found to be unsubstantiated. There were two instances of past or present St. Louis County residents voting in error, but both individuals cast their ballots in the Twin Cities metro area.
Beiers said she had not yet had an opportunity to check the latest list from Minnesota Majority against its prior spreadsheet, so she was uncertain whether there was any overlap.
