Minnesota’s Secretary of State Steve Simon, says as the country has been watching the hearings on the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol - and on democracy itself - he understands there are questions about our system of electing leaders.
“It's okay to have questions about our election system, and hard, tough questions,” says Simon. “That's perfectly fine.”
But, Simon adds, it is also important to come to an agreement on what that system is, and how it works.
“We have to come to some agreement on a common set of facts about what the system is”, Simon tells WCCO’s Susie Jones. “We could have strong debates about what it ought to be, what laws we should add, what laws we should subtract, the direction of our election system or our democracy. Totally fair game. That's not disinformation. That's debate. That's democracy.”
Following the 2020 Election, there were many claims of Election fraud that were unfounded, and not based in fact. Simon said that we have to get back to a point where voters again have faith in the Election system.
“There are good people that we all know, I certainly do, who have really been taken in by some of this disinformation,” Simon said. “I think it’s important to make a distinction between those folks, every day people, versus the active, intentional purveyors of disinformation of which there are many. That’s different and we can’t paint them with the same broad brush.”
Simon adds that is important to be empathetic to people who have doubts and suspicions, but it is important to address their doubts and reassure them that Elections are safe.
Currently, Simon is supporting an effort to get 100% of Minnesota voters to the polls, and improve access for all voters, including people of color and other underrepresented groups.
In 2020, Minnesota had easily the highest voter turnout rate in the country with 79.96% of eligible voters casting a ballot. Colorado and Maine were second and third at just over 76%. That is also Minnesota’s highest turnout since 1956 when 83% voted.
Traditionally Midterm Election turnout is much lower than presidential years. In 2018, 64% of Minnesota’s voters turned out, which is second to 2002 for midterms since 1950.
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