KSTP–TV v. Ramsey Cnty.

Decision Date16 November 2011
Docket NumberNo. A10–0395.,A10–0395.
Citation806 N.W.2d 785
PartiesKSTP–TV, et al., Appellants, v. RAMSEY COUNTY, Respondent.
CourtMinnesota Supreme Court

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

Syllabus by the Court

The Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, Minnesota Statutes § 13.37, subd. 2 (2010), unambiguously classifies sealed absentee ballots prior to opening by an election judge as not public government data.

Mark R. Anfinson, Minneapolis, Minnesota, for appellants.

John J. Choi, Ramsey County Attorney, Kevin M. Lindsey, Assistant County Attorney, St. Paul, Minnesota, for respondent.

OPINION

ANDERSON, G. BARRY, Justice.

This appeal asks us to decide how sealed absentee ballots that were rejected and never counted during the 2008 general election are classified under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act (MGDPA), Minn.Stat. ch. 13 (2010). Appellant television stations KSTP–TV, KSTC–TV, WDIO–TV, KAAL–TV, and KSAX–TV, alleging that the ballots are public government data under the MGDPA, brought an action under the MGDPA seeking access to the ballots. The Ramsey County District Court granted summary judgment to the stations. The court of appeals reversed, concluding that Minn.Stat. § 13.37, subd. 2, unambiguously provides that sealed absentee ballots are nonpublic or private data under the MGDPA. The court of appeals declined to decide whether the ballots are data on individuals because the data are not public if classified as either nonpublic or private. We affirm.

This case arises from the 2008 election of the United States Senator from Minnesota. The 2008 Senate race was decided after a recount, election contest, and appeal, in which we unanimously affirmed the decision of an election contest court that Al Franken received 312 more votes than Norm Coleman. Sheehan v. Franken (In re Contest of Gen. Election Held on Nov. 4, 2008, for the Purpose of Electing a U.S. Senator from the State of Minn.), 767 N.W.2d 453, 456 (Minn.2009).

Sealed absentee ballots, such as the ballots at issue here, were scrutinized throughout the proceedings that decided the 2008 election. The initial election canvass showed that Coleman received 206 votes more than Franken. Sheehan, 767 N.W.2d at 457. With more than 2.9 million votes cast in the election, the vote differential between Coleman and Franken was small enough to trigger a statewide manual recount. Id. In response to a petition filed by Coleman during the recount, we ordered the candidates and election officials to devise and follow a procedure for reviewing sealed absentee ballot envelopes that had been rejected by election officials on or before election day. Coleman v. Ritchie (Coleman I), 758 N.W.2d 306, 308 (Minn.2008) (order with opinion to follow); Coleman v. Ritchie (Coleman II), 762 N.W.2d 218, 233 (Minn.2009) (opinion). Under our order, if the candidates and officials agreed that a sealed absentee ballot had been rejected improperly, then the sealed absentee ballot would be opened. Coleman I, 758 N.W.2d at 308. After our order, on January 3, 2009, the Office of the Secretary of State opened and counted 933 sealed absentee ballots that were previously rejected. Sheehan, 767 N.W.2d at 457. The Canvassing Board then certified election results showing Franken with a margin of 225 votes over Coleman. Id.

Coleman filed an election contest in which he sought to have more sealed absentee ballots opened. Id. We appointed an election contest court composed of three judges to hear and decide the election contest. Id. After trial, the three-judge panel ordered another 351 sealed absentee ballots to be opened and counted, and the court found that Franken received 312 more votes than Coleman, entitling Franken to the certificate of election as United States Senator from Minnesota. Id. We affirmed on June 30, 2009. Id. at 453, 471.

On June 22, 2009, television stations KSTP–TV, KSTC–TV, WDIO–TV, KAAL–TV, and KSAX–TV sent a letter to all county election officials in the state requesting “access to any data” that the counties maintained “referring to rejected absentee ballots that were identified by the campaigns of U.S. Senate candidates Franken or Coleman as being subjected to objection or challenge,” as well as other data “that would disclose the reasons why the absentee ballots were rejected.” The stations alleged that the absentee ballots were public data under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act (MGDPA), Minn.Stat. ch. 13 (2010). Ramsey County denied the stations' request on July 7, 2009, relying on Minn.Stat. § 13.37, subd. 2, which provides that “sealed absentee ballots prior to opening by an election judge” are “private data with regard to data on individuals” and “nonpublic data with regard to data not on individuals.”

The stations brought an action for declaratory judgment, asking the district court to rule that the sealed absentee ballots were public government data under the MGDPA and thus subject to public inspection and copying. The court granted summary judgment to the stations, deciding that the MGDPA's general presumption that government data are public, see Minn.Stat. § 13.03, subd. 1, applied to sealed absentee ballots after an election. Ramsey County appealed, and the Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed. KSTP–TV v. Ramsey Cnty., 787 N.W.2d 198, 202 (Minn.App.2010). The court of appeals concluded that Minn.Stat. § 13.37, subd. 2, unambiguously classifies sealed absentee ballots as nonpublic or private data. Id. at 201. The court of appeals declined to decide whether the ballots are data on individuals because the data are not public if classified as either nonpublic or private. Id. The stations petitioned for, and we granted, review.

I.

The question in this appeal is whether sealed absentee ballots that were not accepted for counting in the 2008 general election are public data under the MGDPA. This issue presents a question of statutory interpretation, which we review de novo. See Larson v. State, 790 N.W.2d 700, 703 (Minn.2010). We begin statutory interpretation with the plain language of the statute. In re 2010 Gubernatorial Election, 793 N.W.2d 256, 259 (Minn.2010). If the language is ambiguous because it is susceptible to more than one reasonable interpretation, we apply other canons of construction to ascertain and effectuate the intent of the Legislature. See In re Welfare of J.B., 782 N.W.2d 535, 539–40 (Minn.2010). But if the statute is unambiguous on its face, we look no further than the plain language to determine the statute's meaning. In re 2010 Gubernatorial Election, 793 N.W.2d at 259. When examining the plain language of a statute, we construe words and phrases according to their common usage. Minn.Stat. § 645.08 (2010). We also “read and construe a statute as a whole and must interpret each section in light of the surrounding sections to avoid conflicting interpretations.” Am. Family Ins. Grp. v. Schroedl, 616 N.W.2d 273, 277 (Minn.2000). When relying on the plain statutory text, we read words and phrases “to avoid absurd results and unjust consequences.” Id. at 278.

The relevant portion of the MGDPA, Minn.Stat. § 13.37, subd. 2, states in full:

The following government data is classified as nonpublic data with regard to data not on individuals, pursuant to section 13.02, subdivision 9, and as private data with regard to data on individuals, pursuant to section 13.02, subdivision 12: Security information; trade secret information; sealed absentee ballots prior to opening by an election judge; sealed bids, including the number of bids received, prior to the opening of the bids; parking space leasing data; and labor relations information, provided that specific labor relations information which relates to a specific labor organization is classified as protected nonpublic data pursuant to section 13.02, subdivision 13.

(Emphasis added.) The stations argue that this subdivision is ambiguous and that numerous policy concerns require us to interpret section 13.37, subdivision 2, to permit public access to sealed absentee ballots after an election is complete. We disagree.

A.

We first turn to the classification of sealed absentee ballots under the MGDPA. The MGDPA “regulates the collection, creation, storage, maintenance, dissemination, and access to government data in government entities.” Minn.Stat. § 13.01, subd. 3. The purpose of the MGDPA is “to reconcile the rights of data subjects to protect personal information from indiscriminate disclosure with the right of the public to know what the government is doing. The Act also attempts to balance these competing rights within a context of effective government operation.” Montgomery Ward & Co. v. Cnty. of Hennepin, 450 N.W.2d 299, 307 (Minn.1990) (quoting Donald A. Gemberling & Gary A. Weissman, Data Privacy: Everything You Wanted to Know About the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act—From “A” to “Z,” 8 Wm. Mitchell L.Rev. 573, 575 (1982)). Under the MGDPA, government data are presumed public “unless there is federal law, a state statute, or a temporary classification of data that provides that certain data are not public.” Minn.Stat. § 13.01, subd. 3. Government data are “not public” if they fall within one of several classifications set out by statute in the MGDPA.1

First, all government data falls into one of two main categories based on the type of information included in the data: (1) data on individuals, or “government data in which any individual is or can be identified as the subject of that data,” Minn.Stat. § 13.02, subd. 5, and (2) data not on individuals, which is all other government data, Minn.Stat. § 13.02, subd. 4. The MGDPA classifies data from each of these two categories into different levels of access. The levels of access for data on individuals are “public,” 2 “private,” 3 and “confidential,” 4 and the levels of access for data not on individuals are “public,” 5 “nonpublic,” 6 and “protected nonpublic.” 7 “Public data” is government data that is accessible to the general public. Minn.Stat. §...

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