The presumptive Democratic Party nominee for vice-president, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, has a record of hostility toward minor parties and the voters who want to vote for minor parties. On May 23, 2023, he signed HF 1830. It altered the Minnesota definition of a qualified party from a group that polled 5% at either of the last elections, to one that polled 8% at either of the last two elections.
That made Minnesota the fifth-most difficult state in the nation for a minor party to retain its spot on the ballot. The only states with a worse vote test for party status are Alabama (20%), Virginia (10%), and New Jersey (10%). Also Pennsylvania’s registration test of 15% is worse than any other state’s test.
The Democratic majority in Minnesota wrote SF 1830 in order to eliminate the Legal Marijuana Now Party from the ballot. After it was pointed out to them that it violates constitutional due process to make the definition of a party effective immediately, the bill was amended to not apply until 2026. But then this year the Democratic Party challenged the status of the Legal Marijuana Now Party in state court, and the State Supreme Court removed it, on the grounds that it had the wrong type of structure.
HB 1830 also says votes for declared write-in candidates will no longer be counted, in most cases.
None of the other Democratic politicians who had been under consideration for the vice-presidential nomination are known to have ever harmed ballot access in their own state.