Hennepin County has denied the Department of Justice’s request to place election monitors inside Minneapolis-area polling places for Tuesday’s midterm election.
The county will be forcing federal staff to remain outside the state’s 100-foot boundary, in plain clothes, and limit them to voluntary interviews with voters after they leave.
The decision, confirmed by the office of Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, is the same rule they applied during the August primary.
The DOJ is currently deploying monitors nationwide, including teams focused on Minneapolis, Brooklyn Park, and Brooklyn Center.
According to statements from Moriarty’s office, the county consulted the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office and others before rejecting the request for interior access.
DOJ monitors “will not be permitted inside polling places but instead will remain outside a 100-foot boundary from the polling locations, in compliance with Minnesota law.”
The monitors are expected to be DOJ staff in plainclothes and may attempt to interview voters as they exit, but participation is entirely voluntary.
Moriarty said her office is “committed to ensuring free, safe, and fair elections” and will review reports of potentially unlawful behavior directed at voters or election workers.
“Our office is fully prepared to protect and defend your right to vote,” Moriarty said in a press release about the request. “Any reports of threats, harassment, or intimidation directed at voters or election workers will be reviewed and, if appropriate, prosecuted.”
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon said both Hennepin and Ramsey counties declined the DOJ’s request, as they are permitted to do under state law, and that his office, along with the Attorney General’s Office, will have observers watch the federal monitors, according to a CBS Minnesota report.
The restriction rests on Minnesota Statute § 204C.06, which limits who may enter a polling place or stand within 100 feet of the building.
Federal monitors lack automatic authority to go inside without local consent. This leaves the DOJ unable to directly observe the interior of polling places in the largest county in a state at the center of recent national attention over ballot handling, noncitizen voting concerns, and the influence of concentrated immigrant communities, including the large Somali population in Minneapolis represented by Rep. Ilhan Omar.
The DOJ plans to have monitors working in every state.
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