Woodbury Election: Felony Conviction: Senator Nicole Mitchell Wins Council Seat
Unofficial results show Mitchell secured one of two nonpartisan seats with over 13% of the vote, despite serving supervised probation until 2030.
By Sanjay Caldwell ·
Nicole Mitchell, a former Democratic Minnesota state senator, won a seat on the Woodbury City Council in last week’s election.
Unofficial results indicate Mitchell captured more than 13% of the vote share among ten candidates for two nonpartisan positions.
Her victory follows a burglary conviction from an incident in April 2024, when she broke into her stepmother’s home.
Mitchell remains on supervised probation until 2030.
A 2023 law change restored voting rights for individuals with felony convictions who are no longer incarcerated.
This legal shift allowed Mitchell to run for office while her sentence is still active.
Legal experts confirm she meets the Minnesota Constitution's criteria for holding public office.
Jill Hasday, a constitutional law professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, explained that the law change enabled people with felony convictions who are out of jail to serve in public office.
Hasday stated, "So once Minnesota law changed, enabling people who have felony convictions but are no longer in jail to vote, that meant that people with felony convictions who are out of jail can also serve in public office."
A Department of Corrections web page previously stated that felons could not hold office until discharged from probation or at the end of their sentence.
A spokesperson told WCCO the website was outdated and did not reflect the 2023 law change.
The department updated the page as of Monday to state that Minnesotans can hold public office if they are allowed to vote. The original page has been deleted. David Schultz, a political science and legal studies professor at Hamline University, noted that the Minnesota Constitution links voting and office holding together. "Because the Minnesota Constitution, which supersedes law, links voting and ability to hold office together, when they changed the law regarding the eligibility to vote they changed automatically the ability of ex-felons to be able to run for office and hold office again," Schultz said. Hasday observed that other states may have different rules, as states are the default regulators of elections under the U.S. Constitution. According to the Sentencing Project, Minnesota is one of 25 states where the eligibility to hold public office is generally the same as eligibility to vote. "Congress can come in and pass federal laws about elections, but in absence of federal rules, state law controls, so states, for instance, decide whether to disenfranchise felons," Hasday said. In a Facebook post, Mitchell thanked her supporters and said she is "grateful to serve this community" in her new position.
