A flurry of new state laws take effect Thursday including one aimed at protecting election workers.
Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy (DFL- St. Paul) tells Vineeta Sawkar on the WCCO Morning News that doxxing of these workers has become a concern, and this new law adds to keeping election worker information safe.
"We added to the law this year to make sure personal email, personal cell phone, photos of their minor children, aren't able to be released into the public for some purpose without their permission," Murphy explained.
Before August 1, it was illegal to make information about election officials and their families publicly available without consent, if that information posed a serious threat to their safety.
"There has been more actual evidence and pressure put on poll workers in election places over the last number of years, as our elections in Minnesota have become more politically challenged," Murphy said. "And they have become something that is being scrutinized by people."
Following the 2020 Election, protections for these workers have been in the spotlight nationally. A survey released in 2022 by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU’s School of Law found one in three election officials knew someone who had left a job in part because of threats and intimidation, and that one in six had experienced threats personally.
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar (DFL) has been outspoken in highlighting the threats and urging federal protections for election workers. Klobuchar and other Senate Democrats have asked the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI to “ensure that they are aware of both the recent increase in these threats against election officials and federal resources for reporting and countering them.”