Staff photo by Fritz Busch Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon addresses a civic engagement forum sponsored by the New Ulm League of Women Voters at the New Ulm Community Center Nov. 30.

NEW ULM — “We were not hacked,” is how Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon summed up the state’s voting system after the November 2017 General Election at a New Ulm League of Women Voters civic engagement forum at the New Ulm Community Center Nov. 30.

“Minnesota was one of 24 states affected by elements of the Russian state who tried to affect the Presidential Election,” Simon said. “We were cased by people with the intent to penetrate our election system, but they didn’t go in. We worked on the system for two years before the election. We have to constantly work on this to stay ahead.”

Simon said it’s hard to hack Minnesota’s decentralized voting system.

“We still use pen and paper. It’s hard to hack that,” Simon said. “Some states have electronic voting with no paper trail.”

He voiced pride in Minnesota’s nation-leading voter turnout of 74.7 percent of registered voters voting last fall. In addition, he said Minnesota’s voter turnout lead the nation for nine straight years at one point.

“It was an interesting, tumultuous national election last fall,” Simon said.

He listed same-day registration, culture and voting system confidence as reasons for Minnesota’s high voter turnout. In addition, he mentioned online voter registration and no-excuses absentee voting as other reasons for high voter turnout.

“My dad, who is 84 and has Parkinson’s disease, doesn’t drive and used absentee voting,” Simon said. “Almost 23 percent of Minnesota voters used absentee ballots last fall. I’m a traditionalist. I like going to the polls on Election Day.”

He thanked election judges for their unselfishness.

Simon and other forum speakers said the President’s Advisory Committee on Election Integrity’s claim that three to five million people voted illegally last November, is without any foundation or basis.

“If that many people voted illegally, it would mean 50,000 people voted illegally in Minnesota last fall,” Simon said. “If that happened, we’d have protests, a democratic crisis. That has not happened in Minnesota, is not happening now and will never happen here.”

Simon said President Trump’s election committee requested private voter data from all 50 states but he said he was pleased Minnesota didn’t completely comply with the “troublesome” request.

Simon said the biggest surprise of his job is the extent to which it depends on cyber security.

“I think voter rights are under attack right now,” said Minnesota League of Women Voters Action Co-Chairwoman Kathy Tomsich. “There are legislative bills that have not ever passed, but keep coming up over and over again like a measure that would allow private voter information to become public.

She said ways to improve Minnesota election voting include supporting pre-registration for 16 and 17-year-olds.

Brown County Auditor-Treasurer Jean Prochniak said interesting political races and controversial issues really affect voter turnout.

“We work hard to prevent electoral fraud and abuse of the system,” Prochniak said. “In Minnesota, absentee voting has really taken on a new dimension. In Brown County, 11 percent used absentee voting last fall. I created the Brown County Election Task Force. We’re looking a combining some precincts.”

Prochniak said the New Ulm City Council would decide if it wants to eliminate any polling places for 2018 elections by Dec. 31.

Prochniak said eight county townships and cities opted for mail-in ballots that saved themselves and Brown County thousands of dollars last November.

She said 94 percent of Brown County mail-in ballot precinct voters voted last fall and 84 percent of all county voters voted in November.

New Ulm Human Rights Commission member Dan Kalk said back in law school, he met an African woman who took a bullet in her foot because she voted. “We have a lot of power, and that power is to vote,” Kalk said.

The New Ulm League of Women Voters next second Saturday gathering begins at the Verizon Center, 1609 S. Broadway at 9 a.m., Dec. 9. A Ring in the New Year event is planned at the Lind House, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Jan. 4.

Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com.