Personal Representation to Ensure Justice: Leah Huyser and Joe Dixon

Protecting Constitutional Rights

Leah Huyser

Joe Dixon

Leah Huyser and Joe Dixon represented members of Minnesota’s HmongAmerican community in a Voting Rights Act case. Their clients sought to have Minnesota’s voter assistance law declared unconstitutional because it was preempted by the federal Voting Rights Act. Working with the ACLU, Leah and Joe filed suit against the Minnesota Secretary of State.

The federal Voting Rights Act secures the right to vote and guarantees that states cannot enact or enforce laws inconsistent with that right. Among other things, the Act expressly secures ballot access for eligible voters who need assistance to cast their ballot to ensure that eligible voters are not disenfranchised simply because of language limitations or disability. With only a few narrow exceptions, voters are entitled to obtain assistance from a person of their choice. These protections are important not only for ensuring voters are able to obtain assistance from someone they trust, but also because many polling locations do not have assistants available to translate to the full range of languages spoken by Minnesota citizens.

Minnesota law contained a provision that was inconsistent with the Voting Rights Act, because it limited who a voter could use as their assistant and made it a criminal offense to assist a voter in circumstances the Voting Rights Act expressly allowed. In 2017, one of Fredrikson’s clients assisted several older voters in translating their ballots and was criminally prosecuted. Joe Dixon obtained an acquittal of the criminal charge in that case.

This spring, the Court entered a consent order declaring that Minnesota’s Voter Assistance law is preempted by the Voting Rights Act. As part of the order, the Minnesota Attorney General agreed to issue an opinion stating that the law was unenforceable. The Secretary of State’s office amended its training of poll workers and polling signs to ensure that polling locations were notified before the 2020 election to allow voters their choice of assistance as provided by the Voting Rights Act.