Minnesota's Secretary of State says election officials are facing threats

People standing outside a building.
Adam Bennett (center) guides voters to their correct precinct at the MRCI building in Mankato, Minn. on Nov. 3, 2020.
Jackson Forderer for MPR News 2020

The election is just days away, and in some areas of the state, there aren’t enough poll workers. Minnesota’s Secretary of State Steve Simon says that’s at least partly because election officials are facing threats and hostility from voters who still question the results of the 2020 presidential race.

He says there is menacing and threatening behavior toward poll workers.

“Because of the disinformation out there coming from national forces, some people are directed to make accusations that just aren’t true,” Simon told host Cathy Wurzer on Minnesota Now.

“It’s not as much about physical security as it is about transparency. The more people who are invited in to glimpse the process, to see what it’s all about — the more they see what we have in place and have had for decades — the more they’ll come to understand that the conspiracies they’re reading about are just not true.”

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

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