The city of Oak Grove is allowed to use paper voter rosters in the upcoming November election despite serious objections from Anoka County, the Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled.

The state’s highest court on Friday decided that the northern suburb has the authority to choose whether to check in voters with paper rosters during the general election. Anoka County switched over to tablets in 2018, and argued that all precincts within its jurisdiction must use the electronic poll pads.

“This is a major victory for local election authority and the rule of law,” said Doug Seaton, founder of the Upper Midwest Law Center, a conservative legal group that represented the city at no cost. “Oak Grove made a lawful decision for its own precincts, and the Minnesota Supreme Court confirmed that state and county officials cannot rewrite the statute simply because they prefer a different system.”

Some say the decision opens the door for more cities across Minnesota to switch back to the old paper books, which critics argue could lead to longer lines and other complications during this fall’s midterm election.

“Modern elections require modern technology to speed up voter check-in, protect sensitive data, and support accurate recordkeeping,” Anoka County officials said in a statement. “Since electronic rosters were implemented countywide in 2018, we’ve had no cases of fraud, security breaches, or related issues.”

The county continued: “While the Supreme Court’s decision makes election administration more difficult, Anoka County will continue to do what it has always done and ensure that its elections are safe, fair, and secure.”

Leaders in Oak Grove, a city of 9,000 residents where 70% voted for President Donald Trump in 2024, pushed for the change after hearing from a group of Anoka County residents questioning election integrity. Ramsey also had tried to switch to paper poll pads. And some small cities requested more precincts be audited after an election.

Mayor Weston Rolf previously said in an interview that he has more “trust in the paper rosters.” He said he’s “not saying there’s fraud in the election process. What I’m trying to do is verify that there isn’t.”

In a statement on Monday, Rolf said he’s happy with the decision and, “I hope we can all put this behind us and represent our community members the best way we know how. As Mayor of Oak Grove, I am committed to doing everything in my power to secure our elections.”

Anoka County had rejected the demand to abandon the electronic poll pads, affirming that elections are secure and there have been no issues with the system. Officials said the switch to electronic rosters has made voter check-in more efficient and less susceptible to human error.

At issue was state law that says a county, municipality or school district may use electronic rosters for any election, and that the head elections official may designate that precincts use those poll pads.

Oak Grove argued that the city gets to determine whether such rosters are used at precincts within its boundaries. Anoka County countered that in an election with state, federal and county races on the ballot, the county auditor is the head elections official and decides whether to use electronic poll pads for all precincts within the county.

In siding with Oak Grove, the opinion reads that, “Minnesota Election Law, consistent with the City’s position, does nothing to qualify a municipality’s ability to choose whether to use electronic or paper rosters for any election, or to explicitly limit a city’s role solely to elections in which only municipal offices or municipal questions are on the ballot.”

Groundwork Legal, a nonprofit legal organization, previously filed a brief on behalf of the League of Women Voters warning that the Supreme Court agreeing with Oak Grove would have serious consequences.

Returning to paper rosters, the group argued, would bring back an arduous process that can lead to longer lines that may drive some voters away. It could also cause more issues verifying signatures and ensuring voters are directed to the right polling place if they arrive at the wrong precinct, the brief said.

The group’s brief argued Oak Grove’s “request to abandon electronic voter rosters is rooted in unsupported claims about the unreliability of electronic election technology that have been promoted by a fringe group” in Anoka County.

In a social media post, Oak Grove City Council Member Angie Bray Johnson said, “For me, this has always been about election integrity, transparency, local authority, and the ability to verify our elections.”

She said the ruling extends far beyond Oak Grove.

“What started with one small Minnesota city raised a question with statewide significance,” she said.

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