To start 2022 right, Clean Elections MN sponsored, along with a host of co-hosts, a live Zoom and Facebook event,  “Protecting Our Vote” January 12. Special guests  Senator Amy Klobuchar and Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon responded to questions crafted from registrants and presented by moderator Dave Hage, a Pulitzer Prize winning former Star Tribune reporter and opinion writer. A recording of the conversation is available here:

Minnesota’s elections received high praise from the Senator and the Secretary of State, but there is room for improvement; for example, Minnesota could establish a complete system of automatic voter registration, adding to the current “opt in” when applying for a driver license. Secretary Simon alluded to Minnesota’s nation-leading voter turnout–80% in 2020–as evidence that Minnesotans trust the security and reliability of our elections. The Senator described efforts in Congress to pass bills to protect our vote against efforts to subvert it. At the end, Simon and Klobuchar asked viewers to stand up for the integrity of our election process in Minnesota and against attempts to intimidate election officials and volunteers at the polls.  You can also see the process from the inside and serve your community by signing up to work as an “election judge.” Learn more at the website of the Secretary of State: https://www.sos.state.mn.us/elections-voting/get-involved/become-an-election-judge/. Students age 16 and 17 can also sign up to serve as trainees. Great idea for high school civics classes.

The webinar was hosted by Clean Elections Minnesota with co-hosts Minnesota League of Women Voters, Common Cause Minnesota, RepresentUs MN, American Promise MN, Plymouth Area Indivisible and IndivisibleMN03, Minnesota Commission of the Deaf, DeafBlind, and Hard of Hearing. (CART and ASL Provided)