By Deb Gau

dgau@marshallindependent.com

MARSHALL — Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon said lately he’s been getting questions about whether it will be safe for Minnesota voters to go to the polls or use ballot drop boxes.

The questions made sense, after seeing reports of groups watching voters in Arizona, he said. But Minnesota was in a

good position to prevent voter intimidation, Simon told a group

of area residents Thursday.

“We’re in much better shape in Minnesota than most states,” he said. “Our laws are really clear.”

Simon made a stop in Marshall Thursday afternoon, holding a question-and-answer session in Liberty Park. A crowd of about 40 people, including residents of Lyon and surrounding counties, attended the event.

Simon, a Democrat, as served as Minnesota Secretary of State since 2015. He is running for re-election against Republican opponent Kim Crockett.

Simon encouraged area residents to get out the vote. There’s a lot riding on this year’s elections, he said.

“A lot is on the ballot,” he said. “Economic security is on the ballot, health care is on the ballot. Democracy is on the ballot, that is for sure.”

Simon said he has received questions from media about election safety and voter intimidation after reports of groups watching ballot drop boxes in Arizona.

“I haven’t heard as much fear coming from actual voters,” he said. He also said Minnesota hasn’t seen similar incidents at ballot drop locations. “We have a lot of counties and cities that do have drop boxes. We have not seen any reports or any signs of that happening in Minnesota. But in terms of actual polling places, we’re in good shape because we’ve got strong laws.”

In Minnesota, each political party is allowed only one poll challenger in a polling place, and they must be designated in writing, Simon said.

“And then our law goes even further in Minnesota,” he said. “In Minnesota, that one challenger can’t come within six feet of a voter, cannot speak to a voter, and can only issue a challenge to that voter’s eligibility based on personal knowledge, not a whim.”

Simon said Minnesota election judges are also trained to watch for and remove poll challengers who don’t follow the rules.

Simon criticized Crockett, saying she would restrict Minnesotans’ freedom to vote.

“Right now, my opponent has a very different worldview than me. She wants to restrict the freedom to vote, in part because she’s an election denier,” Simon said.

At an Oct. 20 press conference, Crockett had responded to a reporter’s question about whether she distrusted Minnesota’s 2020 election results by saying, “I don’t think we’ll ever know precisely what happened.”

“She says we’ll never really even know whether Joe Biden won Minnesota. Folks, he won by 230,000 votes,” Simon said. “This is not Coleman and Franken. This is not a paper clip-width of difference here. This is 230,000 votes, and she can’t bring herself to say.”

“It’s the principle at stake. It’s not who won it,” he said of the election. “It’s the principle of not denying reality.”

Simon said the concerning thing about the election disinformation being heard around the country was that it inspired violence like the Jan. 6, 2021 riots at the U.S. Capitol. “And it’s also inspired attacks on the freedom to vote in state capitols across the country,” he said. “There are people in our state government right now who, given the chance, would absolutely take us backwards, absolutely restrict the freedom to vote for everyday eligible people.”

In spite of those concerns, Simon said he still felt “optimistic” about democracy in the U.S. and Minnesota in the long term. For example, Minnesota was first in the nation in voter turnout in 2020, despite the COVID pandemic, he said.

Minnesota was able to achieve that high voter turnout by working together with partners in local governments, and encouraging people to vote from home if they wanted to, Simon said.

“And this isn’t a DFL thing or a Republican thing. Turnout was up everywhere,” he said. “It was up in rural areas, it was up in suburban areas, it was up in urban areas. Sometimes it helped one party, sometimes a high turnout helped another party. And that’s what you want in a system. That’s who we are, and it’s because we believe in the freedom to vote.”