Did Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz break the law by helping his son vote? No, that's not true: It is not against state law for a candidate in an election to help a voter who has requested voting assistance at the polls. A representative from the Minnesota secretary of state's office told Lead Stories the restriction had been "struck from the law." Minnesota courts ruled that the previous restriction was "unenforceable."
The claim appeared in a post on X (archived here) on October 23, 2024. The caption read:
Wow! Here is Tim Walz appearing to help his son vote.
According to Minnesota law a candidate can't assist someone with voting.
Did Tim Walz break the law?
H/t @GrageDustin
This is what the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Thu Oct 24 13:34:05 2024 UTC)
Next to a video of what is purportedly Tim Walz helping his son vote is a screenshot of Minnesota state law. The highlighted portion of the screenshot asks, "Are there restrictions on the individuals who may provide assistance to a voter?" and answers, "A candidate for election."
Lead Stories contacted the Minnesota secretary of state's office. In an October 24, 2024, email, Cassondra Knudson, press secretary for the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State, responded:
Here is the current statute: Sec. 204C. 15 MN Statutes.
The previous restriction on candidates providing assistance to voters was struck from the law.
The relevant part of the statute Knudson linked read:
A voter in need of assistance may alternatively obtain the assistance of any individual the voter chooses. Only the following persons may not provide assistance to a voter: the voter's employer, an agent of the voter's employer, or an officer or agent of the voter's union.
The "struck from the law" part of Knudson's response led to the Minnesota statute where viewers can see that "... or a candidate for an election" is crossed out. Evidence of this is below. Colored highlighted by Lead Stories:
(Source: Revisor.mn.gov screenshot taken on Thu Oct 24 16:04:13 2024 UTC)
In an April 2020 press release from the Minnesota American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU said Steve Simon, the secretary of state of Minnesota, agreed with a district judge that the restriction of not allowing a candidate for election to assist a voter is "unenforceable."
More Lead Stories fact checks of claims surrounding Tim Walz are here.
Other Lead Stories fact checks of claims surrounding the 2024 U.S. presidential election are here.
