U.S. House Democrats sending election observers to Hennepin and Olmsted counties
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The state’s top election administrator said Monday that in addition to election monitors sent by the U.S. Department of Justice, who will be at some polling places in Hennepin and Ramsey counties, the Democrat-led U.S. House Minority caucus is sending one election observer to Hennepin County and one to Olmsted County.
Secretary of State Steve Simon said the Republican-led U.S. House Majority caucus has so far declined to send observers.
“Historically, they have sent their observers to competitive districts,” said Paul Linnell, elections director for the Secretary of State’s Office. “It is something that’s outlined in the Constitution that allows them to send them to congressional districts and they’ve chosen to send two in this case.”
Olmsted County, where Rochester is, is part of U.S. Rep. Brad Finstad’s district, which is among the most competitive congressional races in the country. Like the Justice Department’s election monitors, Congress sending election observers to polling places is not a new development.
The Justice Department sent election monitors to Hennepin and Ramsey county polling places during the August primary. The Secretary of State’s office partnered with the Attorney General’s office to “monitor the monitors” and plan to do so again.
“[Election monitors] are literally Justice Department lawyers or people who work with the Justice Department lawyers who come in plain clothes,” Simon said. “They don’t have badges, they don’t have guns.”
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