Minnesota Judge Spanked For Ignoring Law Restoring Felon Voting Rights
Just over a year after Minnesota restored voting rights to former felons, the state Board on Judicial Standards (BJS) reprimanded Mille Lacs County District Judge Matthew Quinn on June 27, 2024, for attempting to disenfranchise formerly incarcerated people.
Minnesota’s Restore the Vote Act re-enfranchised over 55,000 former prisoners on probation for felony convictions. Signed by Gov. Tim Walz (D), it took effect on June 1, 2023, as Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon registered newly eligible voters in St. Paul.
Yet in October 2023, Judge Quinn issued supplementary sentencing orders warning at least six defendants that they are not eligible to vote or register to vote. Making sure no one thought it a mistake, he also called the new law unconstitutional.
The orders were quickly challenged. Democratic Farm Labor officials condemned his attempt to undermine the Restore the Vote Act, and the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled in November 2023 that he overstepped his authority.
BJS’s subsequent investigation and reprimand condemned the judge, deeming his orders “unfair” for threatening newly refranchised voters with criminal charges if they attempted to exercise the right. The incident is not Judge Quinn’s first brush with ethical concerns. In 2021, he received a separate reprimand for social media activity exhibiting political bias toward former Pres. Donald J. Trump (R).
Sources: AP News, Minneapolis Star Tribune