The election system in Minnesota is facing scrutiny on social media after a clip of a state official speaking to Somali voters reignited concerns about election integrity in the state.

"If you’re already registered to vote, you don’t need to bring anything with you," Minnesota Voter Outreach Director Melanie Hazelip said on Somali TV.

"You just show up to your early voting location, which is usually the county office or City Hall. Minneapolis and the bigger jurisdictions have a lot of extra places where you can go, like a lot of libraries or community centers. As long as you’re registered to vote, you don’t need to bring anything with you. 

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"If you’re not registered to vote … you still have options. If you have a Minnesota ID that is updated, that’s all you need to bring with you. If you don’t have that, there is a list of documents on our website that you can find. You still have options to get registered same day."

While Hazelip's comments were in accordance with the laws on the books, they prompted outrage on social media after being posted by conservative influencer End Wokeness, and the post racked up almost a million views with users making the case that the system is too lax.

"A Minnesota election official just went on Somali TV and walked viewers through how to same-day register and vote using a Minnesota state ID," retired Navy intelligence Officer Phillip C. Parrish posted on X. 

"Minnesota hands out those IDs to non-citizens with no citizenship marking. Vouching lets one registered voter clear up to eight others on an oath. Citizenship is required by law. Real-time proof is not. The same state that lost hundreds of millions to documented fraud in childcare, nutrition, and Medicaid programs is now advertising the lowest-friction path to the ballot on community TV. Affirm you’re a citizen. Cast the vote. Get investigated later—if at all. This is how the system is built. It is not an accident."

Federalist Society co-founder David McIntosh wrote on X, "Democrats are on a mission to tell every non-citizen how they can get away with voting in our elections.

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"How is this not election interference?"

"Nothing to see here, I'm sure," Red Ax Strategies President Matthew Brodsky posted on X.

"This is why passing the SAVE America Act is crucial," conservative commentator Riley Gaines posted on X.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, the Minnesota Secretary of State's office said it "provides information and resources on Minnesota election laws to hundreds of nonpartisan community groups every year as a part of our regular voter engagement efforts."

"Recently, our voter outreach director spoke with a local news outlet and provided accurate information about Minnesota election laws and how eligible voters cast their ballots. Unfortunately, her accurate remarks have been misinterpreted and misrepresented by political actors online," the statement said. 

"With only a few days left before the election, we remain focused on making sure every eligible Minnesotan knows how and where to cast their ballot."

Bill Glahn, a policy fellow at the Center of the American Experiment, told Fox News Digital, "given the timing, so close to the election — and the audience, Somali TV — she really should have emphasized the need to be an American citizen in order to vote."

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"It's true most Somali immigrants are naturalized citizens, but not all," Glahn said. "In fact, we just had a noncitizen sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for the Feeding Our Future fraud."

The scrutiny comes as the Walz administration confronts hundreds of millions of dollars lost to social services fraud tied to the state’s Somali immigrant community. Critics pointed to a further wrinkle in Minnesota state law signed by Gov. Tim Walz in 2023 that provided for Driver's Licenses For All regardless of immigration status. The policy also stipulates that the licenses carry no markings indicating citizenship, even though such IDs are commonly used to register to vote.

Under Minnesota law, a registered voter can "vouch" for up to eight other voters’ residency who want to sign up for same-day voter registration without an ID. The registered voter must go with the person or people to the polling place and sign an oath verifying their address, according to an official fact sheet from the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State.

Glahn told Fox News Digital earlier this year that while the state touts the safeguards it has put in place to ensure only citizens vote, "it’s like murder’s illegal, but it happens all the time."

"It's a penalty of perjury," he said. "You signed an oath, but if you signed as Mickey Mouse, they're not going to find you."

In September, a federal indictment was handed down charging an illegal immigrant from India with knowingly making the false claim to be a U.S. citizen to vote in the 2024 general election in Minnesota.

Fox News Digital's Charles Creitz contributed to this report

A New York Times investigation revealed an alleged effort by operatives liked to Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to recruit a second Dan Sullivan for Alaska’s ballot, but the report came as nearly 1 in 10 registered Alaska voters had already cast ballots.

The timing means roughly 58,000 voters may have made their choices before learning of the reported effort that critics say was intended to create confusion with a same-name candidate. 

Peltola’s campaign and the DSCC have denied involvement.

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Dan J. Sullivan made it to the four-candidate general election earlier this year after winning 2.5% of the vote in the primary. His campaign announcement did not list a party affiliation. His website does not state his position on any political issues.

"Dan Sullivan challenges Dan Sullivan for U.S. Senate Seat, urges Alaskans to defeat incumbent, elect a Sullivan who stands up for Alaska," it read.

The New York Times reported that the effort to recruit potential Republican spoiler candidates included Dan J. Sullivan. The effort spanned coordination between the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) to Peltola staffers, according to text messages, interviews and internal documents.

According to a source interviewed by the New York Times, Peltola was aware of the efforts.

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The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit last week, seeking to delay certification if Sen. Dan Sullivan is defeated, citing the possible confusion. It’s unclear if the DOJ is likely to succeed on those grounds.

The state’s ranked-choice voting system is further complicating the election picture for Sen. Sullivan.

Under this system, voters rank their preferred candidates. If their top choice is eliminated, their support passes to their next-ranked option. While supporters of the process argue it expands voters' power and greatly increases the influence of candidates that may not otherwise be a top choice, critics believe it also introduces confusion.

Alaska state Sen. James Kaufman, a Republican, is one of those critics.

Kaufman fears that some voters won’t bother to fill out both the "Sullivans" on the ballot to cover their bases.

He believes there are still some voters in Alaska, especially Republicans, who refuse to use the system, citing disagreements with its implementation.

"Some people have a pretty strong traditionalist perspective: one person, one man, one vote," Kaufman said in an interview with Fox News Digital earlier this year.

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"And, so, the ballot fatigue where people just don’t rank because maybe they disagree with it; there’s a pretty strong segment of the population here that just patently disagrees with the rank-choice voting system we ended up with. And they don’t necessarily believe in utilizing it," he added.

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Less than a week remains before the Nov. 3 general election.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s effort to restore voting rights to tens of thousands of convicted felons sparked controversy Thursday after an attorney obtained an executive citation addressed to "Betty No Last Name," purportedly notifying the recipient that her voting rights had been restored.

The citation identifies No Last Name as one of more than 66,000 Virginians whose rights to vote, serve on juries and seek public office have reportedly been restored under Spanberger's administration. The controversy comes ahead of a Nov. 3 ballot measure that would make voting rights restoration automatic upon release from prison.

"It’s a big deal," said Virginia Beach attorney Tim Anderson, who first obtained the citation for No Last Name and shared it with Fox News Digital.

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"It’s clear [Spanberger] didn’t sign it. No governor and no secretary of the commonwealth would sign a restoration order that says Betty No Last Name, so they’re not looking at it; they didn’t review anything," Anderson told Fox News Digital in an interview Thursday. Each citation bears the signatures of the governor and Secretary of the Commonwealth Candi Mundon-King.

"Whereas, Betty No Last Name, by reason of conviction(s), suffers political disabilities …," the citation obtained by Fox News Digital says.

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Anderson said he obtained the citation through a public records request to the Chesapeake Sheriff's Office after reports emerged that restoration notices had been sent to felons who are now deceased. He said the document originated from Spanberger's office and was sent to the sheriff's office.

He speculated that the citations were generated through a mail merge of records and signed using an autopen despite language in the documents indicating that each case had been individually reviewed.

Former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares also questioned whether the administration had individually reviewed the restoration cases.

"Four mentions of ‘Betty No Last Name’ and still no last name. I’m thinking perhaps Abigail Spanberger’s ‘individualized review’ is just imaginary," Miyares said in a statement.

Fox News Digital reached out to Spanberger, Mundon-King and the Chesapeake Sheriff's Office for comment. A sheriff's office official also confirmed veracity of the citation received in No Last Name's name, and provided an additional copy to Fox News Digital.

Anderson said he found the questionable citation after contacting only a handful of Virginia law enforcement agencies and believes similar cases may exist elsewhere in the state. He also suggested that officials whose signatures appear on the citations could face criminal liability if the documents were found to be fraudulent, potentially resulting in forfeiture of office.

Anderson’s finding went viral on social media Thursday, and critics pointed out how No Last Name’s citation colored the upcoming ballot question on automatic rights restoration for felons.

Some Virginia lawmakers have called for an independent audit of Spanberger's rights-restoration process. State Sen. Glen Sturtevant, R-Chesterfield, who has called for the audit, said reports have since emerged of restoration citations being sent to deceased individuals.

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"Now a certificate for "Betty No Last Name," signed by the governor. Still no audit. Vote no on Question 3," Sturtevant said in a statement.

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"Congratulations to Betty No Last Name," added Del. Wren Williams, R-Stuart. "You can now vote in Virginia."

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter on Wednesday rejected the Justice Department's emergency request to force California to set aside mail-in ballots associated with more than 20,000 registered voters whose citizenship the Trump administration has questioned, ruling that the last-minute intervention would disrupt an election already underway.

The over 20,000 voters identified by Department of Justice officials as "likely aliens" were designated as such after Homeland Security Investigations and federal partners "used multiple data-enrichment and verification methods" to flag potential noncitizens on California’s voter rolls. California officials, however, disputed the list's accuracy, citing a preliminary review that identified U.S.-born individuals and voters with no voting history among those flagged.

Carter, a Clinton appointee, ruled that the Justice Department's last-minute effort to intervene in California's election violated constitutional and federal-law constraints, while questioning the reliability of the government's evidence that the flagged voters were noncitizens.

"The district court denied our emergency request to sequester ballots from 20,000 suspected noncitizens," First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. "This ongoing emergency disenfranchises American citizens through dilution. The Solicitor General authorized an immediate appeal. We filed our Notice of Appeal and will immediately seek an emergency order from the Ninth Circuit."

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The Trump administration has suffered a string of defeats in election-related cases in the lead-up to the midterm elections, raising questions whether the administration will be able to deliver on its promises of improved election integrity ahead of the 2028 presidential election. President Donald Trump and other administration officials have repeatedly raised concerns about widespread voter fraud in U.S. elections, though those claims have not been supported by evidence demonstrating fraud on such a broad scale.

California election officials argued that complying with the Justice Department's request would be virtually impossible because county election offices had already processed more than 500,000 ballots, separating them from identifying information and preventing officials from reliably linking those votes to individual voters.

Carter warned that the requested intervention would "wreak havoc and disrupt the election that is already underway," though he noted that federal authorities were free to pursue individual voting fraud cases.

Experts were divided along ideological lines in the case.

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Hans von Spakovsky, an election expert at Advancing American Freedom, a Mike Pence-affiliated think tank, criticized California for refusing to comply with the DOJ’s request.

"It tells you something very revealing and unfortunately badly revealing about California officials that they don’t even want to check," von Spakovsky told The Center Square. "In California, for example, they have automatic voter registration. When you go in to get a driver’s license, they don’t ask you, ‘Would you also like to register to vote?’ The state of California just automatically registers you, and when you ask them, they say, ‘Well, it’s up to the individuals to tell us they’re not eligible to vote.’"

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Rick Hasen, a University of California, Los Angeles, election-law professor, meanwhile, called the Justice Department’s request a "total overreach of federal power," arguing that "the Constitution’s clear that states have the authority to run Congressional elections unless Congress passes a statute otherwise — and Congress didn’t do so here."

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The California governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Thursday.

A federal judge rejected the Justice Department’s request for a temporary restraining order that would have barred California from counting mail ballots from more than 20,000 alleged noncitizen voters, saying the election "is already underway."

U.S. District Judge David Carter, in a ruling issued late Wednesday night after a hearing in Los Angeles, said the government's request "would wreak havoc and disrupt the election that is already underway, create a chilling effect on election workers and voters alike, and discount the votes of United States citizens."

The Justice Department immediately appealed the decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

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"The district court denied our emergency request to sequester ballots from 20,000 suspected noncitizens," U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli wrote on X. "Every day, more ballots are processed by election officials. This ongoing emergency disenfranchises American citizens through dilution. The Solicitor General authorized an immediate appeal. We filed our Notice of Appeal and will immediately seek an emergency order from the Ninth Circuit."

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California mails ballots to all 23 million of its registered voters. More than 3.7 million people have already voted in the state, including more than 500,000 ballots already processed this week with the ballot already out of the envelope, according to court filings.

It would be impossible to know which ballot belonged to a particular voter now, according to Los Angeles County officials.

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"Eroded trust in our democracy is irreparable," Judge Carter, appointed by former President Bill Clinton, wrote. "Once a vote is segregated, lasting harm has occurred. If the Executive can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election due to unproven allegations, then our democracy is in danger. This Court declines to be a party to such process."

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Carter said that "states have control over their elections," but the federal government claims it has evidence the state refuses to accept that there are 20,000 noncitizens registered to vote in the state of California.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly insisted that states are not doing enough to stop noncitizens from voting, which he says is widespread.

Carter said the Justice Department never explained why counting ballots would impair any prosecutions under the law, and California said the DOJ's assertions relied on "suspect data."

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"There are no mysterious databases; this was laid out in publicly filed declarations," Essayli wrote Wednesday night on X. "Voter rolls were compared to USCIS immigration, Social Security, and passport records. We are not changing the rules mid-election, we are enforcing them. It’s unlawful for noncitizens to vote."

Registered voters can self-declare to be noncitizens to get removed from the voter roll, and do so while they are seeking naturalization or saying they are ineligible for jury duty.

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In Washington state, the Justice Department on Monday sent a letter asking officials not to count any ballots received from 400 voters it claims are not citizens. Washington had 5 million registered voters as of 2024, state records show.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Washington's secretary of state blasted the Justice Department Wednesday after federal officials said investigators had identified more than 400 noncitizens illegally registered to vote in the state, some of whom they said had cast ballots in multiple elections dating back decades.

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs pushed back against the findings, saying the state’s review of the list uncovered "several glaring deficiencies."

"This list includes United States citizens and is not reliable. Without individualized proof of ineligibility, it would be both irresponsible and illegal for election officials to decline to process a registered voter’s ballot," he said. 

"That analysis reflects a significant number of people on your list who are not currently registered to vote or are on inactive status, contradicting your representations that all the individuals included in the list will receive a ballot in this year’s election," he added. 

On Monday, the U.S. attorneys’ offices for the Eastern and Western districts of Washington said investigators had identified lawful permanent residents, or green card holders, who were registered to vote or had cast ballots.

"We have identified over 400 noncitizens who are registered to vote and have voted in multiple elections. This is only the tip of the iceberg," Neil Floyd, acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, said in a statement. 

"We will continue to investigate and identify those who are committing crimes by voting illegally."

Immigration officials told Fox News Digital Tuesday that dozens of noncitizens have also been arrested nationwide in a major voter fraud crackdown.

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In an interview with Fox News Digital, Floyd said investigators identified hundreds of noncitizen voters by reviewing U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) records, which showed that some people who applied for certain benefits had also voted.

While some individuals voted only once or three times in past elections, Floyd said others voted as many as 27 times. In total, his office counted approximately 1,500 instances of noncitizens casting ballots.

He emphasized that some noncitizens had been voting for decades, predating Washington’s transition to a vote-by-mail system. 

"I think the earliest moment we have is 1984," Floyd said. "It's early ‘90s, late ’80s, I believe."

However, Floyd said he had not checked whether any of the individuals voted in the upcoming midterms, explaining that he did not want to "interfere with the current election."

The number of potential noncitizen voters could represent only a fraction of the broader population, Floyd said, because the list includes only individuals who sought certain benefits in Washington state.

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"If you take that population, and you expand it out to include all the people that are here illegally that we haven't had contact with, just my estimation is that it's going to be in the thousands," Floyd said. 

Federal officials said many green card holders were registered to vote without their knowledge through Washington’s Motor Voter program, which integrates voter registration into the state’s Department of Licensing.

"We have heard from green card holders who were registered against their knowledge via the Washington Motor Voter program. Then they receive a ballot in the mail and assume they are legally registered — that simply is not the case," the notice said.

According to the Washington secretary of state’s website, eligible residents are automatically registered to vote only if they provide proof of U.S. citizenship during a driver’s license or ID card registration process.

Floyd said investigators identified patterns they believe contributed to noncitizens being registered to vote.

According to the DOJ notice, federal officials are asking Washington state to set aside ballots cast by the identified individuals until their citizenship status can otherwise be confirmed.

"Washington is now on notice that noncitizens are voting. It is up to the state to take action to make sure that they are not allowing these noncitizens to vote illegally," the notice said.   

The move builds on DOJ's legal action against California, where federal officials are seeking to set aside mail-in ballots from roughly 20,000 voters they allege are likely noncitizens while their citizenship status is verified.

In response, the California secretary of state’s office said last week that its review "found significant accuracy problems with their sweeping claims."

"At best, this litigation is a reckless political stunt. At worst, it threatens to disenfranchise thousands of Californians this election. Plaintiff’s sole claim—that a federal criminal prohibition on individual noncitizen voting preempts large swaths of California’s election administration—borders on the absurd. The relief Plaintiff seeks is as unlawful as it is untenable," the statement said. 

Officials warned that voting as a noncitizen can have serious consequences for those seeking to become U.S. citizens. Potential criminal charges include making false statements in a naturalization application, and some individuals could also face charges for fraudulent voter registration.

On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security told Fox News Digital numerous illegal aliens had also admitted to unlawfully registering to vote or casting ballots in U.S. elections.

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Of the dozens of suspects arrested, at least 18 had voted in a federal election. 

The individuals were from a range of countries, including Mexico, Somalia, Honduras, Guyana, Cuba, Germany, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Vietnam, El Salvador, Cambodia, Guatemala, Portugal and Italy.

Many also faced charges for numerous alleged crimes, including counterfeiting, fraud, kidnapping, DUI, sexual offenses, assault with a dangerous weapon, drug possession and burglary.