Department of Justice to send election monitors to Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Minnesota officials say federal election monitors are coming on Nov. 3, but state and county leaders are adding extra limits and oversight.

Minnesota sets limits on observers

What we know:

Top Trump officials have said the Department of Justice plans to send 1,000 election monitors to states around the country on Tuesday, Nov. 3, including Minnesota. The ACLU is suing the federal government to stop the expanded effort over concerns about voter intimidation.

Local perspective:

At a briefing before Nov. 3, Minnesota Sec. of State Steve Simon said he expects Department of Justice lawyers at Minnesota polling places, not law enforcement or immigration officers.

He said the observers will be in plain clothes without badges or guns.

"This is not a new process," said Simon. Simon said federal observers have been used in multiple election cycles under multiple presidents, including President Biden, and some Minnesotans may have voted at a polling place with a federal observer and not even noticed it.

Timeline:

"Both Hennepin and Ramsey County have declined the DOJ's request to allow these observers, as they can under the law," said Simon. Simon said local governments need explicit permission under Minnesota law for federal observers to be inside a polling place.

Simon said Department of Justice monitors were in Minnesota for the August primary and did not cause problems. On Nov. 3, his office said Hennepin County could see five to six teams of two and Ramsey County could see four to five teams of two, all staying outside the 100-foot boundary.

State adds oversight and testing

Why you should care:

Simon said his office and the Minnesota Attorney General's Office will deploy local observers to make sure federal observers follow state law on Nov. 3. Simon's team also said the state got a routine election security briefing from federal officials two weeks before the election and is spending $250,000 on its own penetration testing after the federal government stopped doing certain cybersecurity tests on local voting systems.

"Our aim all along has just been to make sure that the stated reason is the actual reason," said Simon of monitors and the Voting Rights Act. Simon said the stated reason for the observers is to check whether voting sites are following federal rules on language help and access for voters with disabilities.