Minnesota 'planning for possibility' for federal government to interfere with midterm election
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon had a serious message to voters during a Saturday morning 'Freedom to Vote' rally.
"I'm sad to tell you, but feel like I must tell you, we're planning for another set of hazards – that's never been on our list before," Simon told the crowd. "Is that our own federal government might interfere directly, or interfere indirectly with this election."
Simon's warning was steeped in caution, as he reiterated to the crowd that he didn't want to be alarmist – but wanted them to know it was something his office was prepared for.
"We're not predicting that's going to happen. I think that's important. We plan for a lot of things we're not predicting will happen," Simon said Saturday.
Simon says any potential interference could include the presence of federal agents, or a late executive order before voting day.
"You know what victory looks like for me? A lot of planning over scenarios that never happen," Simon said.
Simon defended Minnesota's elections Saturday – saying that a viral video during August's primaries proved to him that protections work, and that the 10 people arrested for voter fraud this month prove that the system catches bad actors.
"These were ten people, out of 8.5 million voters during the same period. Now, one is too many, of course – we don't want anyone breaking our election laws," he said. "But to put it in perspective… that would mean our accuracy level, our honesty level in Minnesota – our security level in Minnesota, is literally 99 point 9999 percent."
