Minnesota Supreme Court Rules Some Voter Data Private

ST. PAUL (AP) -- The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that the secretary of state can withhold some voter information from a conservative election watchdog group.

In a 5-2 decision, the high court on Wednesday reversed a lower court ruling that favored the Minnesota Voters Alliance. That group sued to obtain data on millions of voters that Secretary of State Steve Simon's office contends should be kept private. The group says it wants to see if the data shows voter fraud.

Simon produced a publicly available database for the group but withheld details about the eligibility status of voters.

Justice David Lillehaug wrote in the majority opinion that Simon properly balanced transparency with voter privacy.