A Minnesota Election Official Walked Somali TV Viewers Through Same-Day Registration, and Conservatives Are Calling It a Loophole; the State Says She Was Accurate
Fox News says a clip of the state's voter outreach director drew nearly a million views online. Her description matched Minnesota law. Critics say the state's ID and vouching rules make citizenship hard to check, and the Secretary of State's office says her remarks were misrepresented.
A short explainer on community television has turned into the latest fight over election security in Minnesota, Fox News reports.
The clip. Minnesota Voter Outreach Director Melanie Hazelip told viewers on Somali TV that registered voters need to bring nothing to their early voting site. For people not yet registered, she said, a current Minnesota ID is all they need, or they can use documents listed on the state's website, and they can register the same day. Fox says her comments matched the laws on the books. The conservative account End Wokeness posted the clip, and Fox says the post drew almost a million views.
The criticism. Retired Navy intelligence officer Phillip C. Parrish wrote on X that Minnesota issues IDs to noncitizens with no citizenship marking, and that one registered voter can vouch for up to eight others on an oath. "Citizenship is required by law. Real-time proof is not," he wrote, adding, "It is not an accident." David McIntosh, a co-founder of the Federalist Society, asked, "How is this not election interference?" Riley Gaines said it shows why the SAVE America Act matters. Bill Glahn of the Center of the American Experiment told Fox the director "really should have emphasized the need to be an American citizen in order to vote," given the timing and audience. He noted most Somali immigrants are naturalized citizens, "but not all," and said a noncitizen was recently sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for the Feeding Our Future fraud.
The state's answer. The Secretary of State's office told Fox News Digital it gives information to hundreds of nonpartisan community groups every year. It said the director "provided accurate information about Minnesota election laws" and that her remarks "have been misinterpreted and misrepresented by political actors online."
The law. Fox notes a 2023 law signed by Gov. Tim Walz provides driver's licenses regardless of immigration status, with no marking on the license about citizenship. Under state rules a registered voter can vouch for up to eight others' residency for same-day registration without an ID, by signing an oath. Fox also cites a September federal indictment of an illegal immigrant from India accused of falsely claiming U.S. citizenship to vote in Minnesota in 2024.
Note for readers: Fox does not report that any noncitizen registered or voted because of this clip. Citizenship is required to vote in Minnesota, and the critics' argument is about how it is verified. We have not seen the video.