Across our nation, citizens in each state elect a Secretary of State (SOS) that is tasked with some business services, processing certain administrative documents, and most notably, safeguarding our elections. 

Minnesota’s SOS Steve Simon is a longtime Democrat Party loyalist who has diminished the credibility of his office. In one move that will destroy our elections, Simon pushed a plan that all drivers license receivers become registered to vote after their DMV visit. He has cheerleaded this idea for years, including his time in the state legislature. This is a major issue because illegal immigrants can get a driver's license, there is no indication that they are illegal on the card, and the workers cannot ask someone about their immigration status! We previously broke down this entire plan and that story can be read here.

Now, another major issue faces Minnesota that I, as an individual citizen, decided to fight. Even with the possibility of government retaliation or false attacks of racism by Ayyadurai, I was willing to face repercussions for truth. It is such an important lawsuit and was even covered by national media like The Federalist. 

Minnesota will have a candidate for President on the ballot who is NOT a ‘natural born citizen’ thanks to the incompetence or desire of the SOS office. The US Constitution Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 reads: “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.”

Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai is an immigrant from India who became naturalized as a US Citizen in 1983. He claims to have invented email and has been a controversial character throughout his life/career. He has run for U.S. Senate twice, including an Independent run against Elizabeth Warren in 2018 where he stated “The only way to beat a fake Indian is with a real Indian.” He used to be a MAGA Trump supporter before his recent Unconstitutional, Independent Presidential campaign.

Ayyadurai does not dispute that he is not a ‘natural born citizen’ and has made it a centerpiece of his candidacy. He argues that the 14th Amendment, among other things, nullifies Clause 5 of Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution. This is an unhinged legal theory that has little to no support.

Despite this public information being out there for years, the MN SOS office accepted Ayyadurai’s candidacy filings and paperwork so that he could be placed on the ballot! I refused to let this issue go by silently and filed a lawsuit against Steve Simon! Here is a timeline of the events:

1. I contacted the SOS office informing them that they have a Constitutionally ineligible candidate listed for President. I was informed that I would have to file a lawsuit (204B.44 complaint) to fight for his removal from the ballot.
2. As an individual without deep pockets for election lawsuits, I began asking around and trying to find legal representation.
3. After some preliminary discussions around gauging interest, election lawyer Erick Kaardal informed me that lawyer Elizabeth Nielson would be happy to help on my case. The start of my legal representation began on Friday, August 16th.
4. The lawsuit was filed on Thursday, August 22nd. The case was numbered as the following: A24-1344. This can be found through Minnesota’s public court case search engine.
5. Steve Simon’s legal representation filed a response brief to the lawsuit. Notably, the following quote can be found on page 10 of that document “As he does in nearly all eligibility challenges, the Secretary takes no position as to whether Dr. Ayyadurai is eligible to run for the office in question. The Secretary agrees that if Dr. Ayyadurai is ineligible for the office of President, he should be disqualified from the ballot.” 
6. In essence, Simon refused to take a position but admitted that his office does NOT investigate if a candidate meets Constitutional qualifications! On page 3 and 4 the following can be seen: “Because the Secretary has no legal authority to determine whether a candidate for President is eligible to appear on the ballot, staff do not investigate whether a candidate meets the federal constitutional requirements to serve as President, including whether the candidate is a natural-born citizen.” 
7. This case appeared to be an obvious, no-nonsense approach that would work swimmingly. Precedent had lined up nicely for a win on this suit, especially considering the many states who chose to remove Ayyadurai from the ballot themselves.
8. The Minnesota Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit  on Friday, August 30th because they claimed my attorneys failed to “file the proof of service required by our previous orders.” This is true but only gives half of the picture. The court demanded they “personally serve” Ayyadurai and every other presidential candidate on MN ballots within four days of the petition filing. This is logistically impossible and cost-prohibitive (as described by attorney Erick Kaardal). To remedy, my attorneys mailed the serving documents to each of the nine campaign mailing addresses of Minnesota presidential candidates. The receipts and proof of delivery of these documents were provided to the court.
9. The Court suggested that we deprived candidates of their opportunity to respond, which is insane considering that the lawsuit was not against them, it was against Steve Simon! They could have taken federal/state rulings on similar cases into consideration but did not.
10.  Their ruling now FORCES Ayyadurai to appear on Minnesota ballots despite him not being eligible to hold/run for that office! 

This lawsuit should have set the precedent so no future Minnesota voters will be handed a ballot with a Constitutionally ineligible candidate on it. Minnesota, along with Iowa and Washington, will have a foreign born individual to foreign parents in a foreign land pursuing an office he is not qualified for. While Ayyadurai winning MN is a tiny possibility, any candidate with their name on the ballot for any office has a potential to win. This would cause Minnesota to lose our ten Electoral votes and be subject to the rest of the nation since state statutes require they be cast for the winner and Congress would reject the votes due to their support of an unconstitutional candidate. 

Minnesota’s elections lose more and more credibility every day. The MN Supreme Court has done a massive disservice to the voters of our state and completely failed in vetting candidates. What is the point of the U.S. Constitution if the SOS and Supreme Court refuse to uphold it? Patriots cannot allow the destruction of our elections, we must become ultra-aware and prepared to sue if need be. Big thank you to my legal representation and the Patriots who helped support my suit along the way.

We can NEVER abandon the election integrity fight and Action 4 Liberty will continue exposing the truth on that front!