Minnesota Secretary Of State Steve Simon Addresses DOJ Monitoring Of Polling Sites

By J. Patrick Coolican, Minnesota Reformer

August 12, 2026

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday that its Civil Rights Division is monitoring polling sites in in Hennepin and Ramsey counties for the state’s primary election “to ensure transparency, ballot security and compliance with federal law,” according to a press release.

The two counties declined to allow the DOJ inside polling precincts, as is their right by law, according to Secretary of State Steve Simon, whose office oversees election administration. Instead, DOJ monitors will be required to abide by the same rules as everyone else, restricting access within 100 feet of the polls.

Minnesotans have grown highly skeptical of the federal Department of Justice, given the routine violation of constitutional rights that many suffered during Operation Metro Surge, when the Trump administration sent 3,000 federal immigration agents here. After the killing of Renee Good, for instance, prosecutors in the Office of U.S. Attorney District of Minnesota quit in disgust after DOJ senior leadership instructed them to investigate Good’s wife, rather than her killer, ICE agent Jonathan Ross.

Simon addressed the presence of the DOJ monitors during a Monday press conference, in what appeared to be an effort to calm the waters.

“This has been done the last several election cycles under multiple presidents, including President Biden. And Minnesotans may well have voted at a polling place with a federal observer there and not even noticed,” he said.

The stated reason for the observers, he said, is to make sure the counties are complying with the Voting Rights Act by helping voters in languages other than English and those with disabilities.

He added: “I certainly understand why reports of agents of the federal government at the polls would alarm people, especially here in Minnesota, given what we’ve all gone through over the last several months. So, I want to say we are not taking anything for granted.”

President Donald Trump has repeatedly and falsely claimed to have won Minnesota during his three presidential runs, while also making debunked allegations of widespread voter fraud in mostly Democratic, urban counties around the country.

The Minnesota Reformer is an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to keeping Minnesotans informed and unearthing stories other outlets can’t or won’t tell.