by Luke Sprinkel
A Minnesota district court judge was publicly reprimanded by the Minnesota Board of Judicial Standards after denying several convicted felons the right to vote when issuing probation orders to those felons.
On June 27, Judge Matthew Quinn of Minnesota’s Seventh Judicial District was reprimanded by the Minnesota Board of Judicial Standards (MBJS). According to the Board’s findings, Judge Quinn began issuing probation sentencing orders to convicted felons in October of 2023 which denied those individuals the right to vote.
Prior to July 1, 2023, convicted felons were not given their voting rights back until they completed every part of their criminal sentence, probation included. However, Democrats in control of state government amended state law governing felon voting in 2023. Now, felons who are not incarcerated, but still serving a probation sentence, can vote.
When Judge Quinn (pictured above) issued the probation sentencing orders denying the felons their right to vote, he included in the orders a statement which said Minnesota’s statute about felon-voting was unconstitutional.
In an email referenced in the Board’s findings, Judge Quinn explained his reasoning in part by saying the felon-voting statute is unconstitutional because it violates the Minnesota Constitution’s voter eligibility clause in Article 7, Section 1. Further, the judge said he took an oath to protect and defend the Minnesota Constitution, not state statutes.
In its June 27 reprimand, the Board concluded that Judge Quinn’s actions were in violation of the Rules of the Code of Judicial Conduct.
According to the Board’s report, several of the convicted felons who were denied their ability to vote under Judge Quinn’s orders have since seen their voting rights restored on appeal.
Judge Quinn has previously been reprimanded by the Board.
Three years ago, Judge Quinn was reprimanded for expressing his feelings regarding political candidates in violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct. According to that reprimand, Quinn was photographed wearing a Make American Great Again (MAGA) hat and driving a boat on the Mississippi River as a part of the “Trump Boat Parade” in September of 2020.
Additionally, the Board’s reprimand said Quinn “liked” Donald Trump’s Facebook page, social media posts by Donald Trump, and other social media posts which expressed opposition to Joe Biden during the months leading up to the 2020 presidential election.
Minnesota’s Seventh Judicial District includes several northwestern Minnesota counties such as Clay, Becker, Otter Tail, Stearns, Mille Lacs, and Douglas. Judge Quinn has been a judge in Minnesota’s Seventh Judicial District since September of 2017. Appointed to the position by Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton, Quinn is up for reelection this year.
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Luke Sprinkel previously worked as a Legislative Assistant at the Minnesota House of Representatives. He grew up as a Missionary Kid (MK) living in England, Thailand, Tanzania, and the Middle East. Luke graduated from Regent University in 2018.
Photo “Judge Matthew Quinn” by Minnesota County Attorneys Association. Background Photo “Courtroom” by Zachary Caraway
