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Secretary of State confident about 2024 election security in MN
Steve Simon said his office is ready for the challenges of disinformation, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, physical threats and voter intimidation.
ST PAUL, Minn. — Early voting in Minnesota’s Super Tuesday presidential primary begins Friday, and the state’s chief elections officer says his office is prepared to face the challenges of disinformation, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, physical threats and intimidation against poll workers.
“We have a combination of systems in place that almost no other state has to provide trustworthiness in our election results,” Secretary of State Steve Simon said at a news conference Thursday. He listed new election security laws, multiple layers of security for voting from home, public testing of the accuracy of voting machines, and a large corps of volunteer election judges from the major parties.
Super Tuesday, which takes place on March 5, is when 16 states conduct presidential primaries. Minnesotans can vote early in person at city and county election offices, or request mail-in absentee ballots to vote from home. Early voters have until Feb. 15 to claw back their ballots if they change their mind for any reason, such as their favorite candidate dropping out of the race. Arkansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia and Vermont also start Super Tuesday voting in some capacity Friday or Saturday. Alabama began Jan. 10.
“There is no question that this election year will be among the most intense in history,” Simon told reporters. “The presidential candidates will likely inspire strong feelings. People will be passionate. And that’s OK. … We just want to make sure that it’s channeled in the right direction, in a positive direction, in a non-violent direction.”
Simon, a Democrat, said the “spread of disinformation about our current system” will likely be the biggest election challenge for 2024. While he said debate over how the voting system should operate is normal and welcome, the “deliberate spread of false information is a danger.” He encouraged voters to seek out reliable information from state and local election offices.
Artificial intelligence isn’t as much of a threat to election security as it is a way to “amplify existing threats like disinformation,” he said. He added that Minnesota is ahead of the curve because legislators last year provided criminal penalties for distributing deepfake images of a person without their consent within 90 days of an election if it’s done with the intent of influencing the election.
Bill Ekblad, the secretary’s election security chief, said he and Simon met with 50 county election teams last week for a tabletop exercise to help them respond to any security threats. No foreign adversaries are known to have tried cracking Minnesota’s election systems in 2020, he said. But 21 states were targeted in 2016. Ekblad named Russia as the country that was “rattling doorknobs” without getting in.
Minnesota has seen some instances of harassment, threats and intimidation against local election administrators, but almost none have been directed at the state’s 30,000 volunteer judges, Simon said. He added that a new law strengthens penalties for such acts.
Minnesota 16- and 17-year-olds have been able to preregister to vote since June, so those who have since turned 18 can vote in the presidential primary. So can convicted felons who have completed their prison sentences, under another new law.
This will be Minnesota’s second presidential primary in recent decades. While Minnesota doesn’t have party registration, voters will have to decide whether to vote in the Republican, Democratic or Legal Marijuana Now primary. While their names will still be reported to the party they choose, Simon said, it’s more private than it was in 2020, when all parties got to see who voted for which side. That information remains unavailable to the public.
“I am cautiously optimistic,” Simon said. “Our polling places overwhelmingly in Minnesota are oases of calm, I think, where people can vote in peace and have peace of mind when doing so.”
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Last week, prosecutors charged John Sawchak with attempted 2nd-degree murder and other felony charges after he allegedly shot his neighbor Davis Moturi.
MINNEAPOLIS — Following the shooting between two neighbors, the Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously to request that the city’s auditor conduct an independent investigation into the incidents and cases between Davis Moturi and John Sawchak.
Moturi was allegedly shot by his neighbor, Sawchak, on Wednesday, Oct. 23 but Minneapolis police did not arrest Sawchak until days later.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara defended not arresting Sawchak sooner, calling it a “high-risk” situation. O’Hara later said the victim, who had complained about harassment from Sawchak for months, was failed by police. Sawchak was arrested this past weekend after an hours-long standoff.
Moturi suffered a fractured spine, two broken ribs, and a concussion in the shooting. “Mr. Moturi’s life matters and I’m sorry that for nearly a year, MPD did not treat it like it did,” said Council Member Robin Wonsley in a news release, “Today’s vote affirms that the City Council is committed to taking meaningful actions towards accountability and restoration, starting with this independent review.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey released this statement:
“Mayor Frey fully supports an independent review of this incident. The mayor and City are committed to always doing better, and this means closely examining past actions and finding where there may be ways to improve and grow. The mayor extends his condolences to Davis Moturi, his wife, Caroline, and their family and friends. The safety of our residents is a top priority and any form of violence or hate speech is completely unacceptable and does not align with who we are as a community. Brian O’Hara will continue to be the Minneapolis Police Chief.”
“This Valentine’s Day, 2025, will mark the five-year anniversary of the premiere of ‘Love is Blind,” Vanessa said on the Season 7 finale. “And, it is gonna be the launch of Season 8, which takes place in Minneapolis.”
The episode also revealed three of the new cast members, one of whom, “Alex,” told Lachey Minneapolis is “not like a major city, but it’s also not a small town,” which he said is just one of the obstacles in his way of finding the one.
“I just never found the right person that clicked for me,” he said.
Meantime, you can bone up on Seasons 1-7 streaming now on Netflix.
MINNEAPOLIS — How much do you know about your grandma’s upbringing?
“The Stories From My Grandmother’s Hands” is a book that aims to show young Black children how their grandmas lived through beautiful illustrations and descriptions.
KARE 11 News at Noon shared more on Thursday about the impact that this book will have.
