Disability and Progress-October 15, 2026-Your Vote Counts!

[00:00:00] Speaker A: KPI.org. Sam, [00:01:00] Speaker B: You're listening to Disability and Progress, where we bring you insights into ideas about and discussions on disability topics. My name is Sam. Thank you so much for joining us. This week we're talking with the Secretary of State of Minnesota, Steve Simon, and he will explain how voting works in Minnesota and what accessibility protections are available where possible barriers remain, and what changes voters with and without disabilities can expect if any. Secretary Simon, thank you so much for joining us. [00:01:38] Speaker A: Thank you very much for having me. [00:01:40] Speaker B: So I want to start out by I think a lot of people think of you as the voting person, but there's so much more I feel like the Secretary of State does. Can you kind of give us a little bit of a rundown of what your responsibilities are? [00:01:53] Speaker A: Yeah. There's no question that the responsibility that gets the most attention and the most interest, especially this time of year, is voting. But we do other things as well. For example, we do all the business registrations in Minnesota. So when you're starting or renewing a business, you do that through our office and we do a bunch of other related commercial and business transactions through our office. So that's one that we know is very important to Minnesota. Another thing that we do is we run a program called the Safe at Home program. Safe at Home is an address confidentiality program for victims of dementia, domestic violence or stalking or sexual assault or people who otherwise, maybe through their job, fear for their safety or the safety of their family. And what it means is that people Safe at Home program can have their home address completely private and secret. The only one who knows where they live are the participant, our office, and whoever they choose to tell. So we help them engage in certain life activities like voting, like getting their mail through alternate channels so that no one can trace them and find them who they don't want to find them. So it's life saving work. We're really proud to be part of that. Those are just three examples of the big three that we do. [00:03:07] Speaker B: I just have a quick question before we delve into all the voting things. Is, you know that safe at home sounds really great, but there's been so much stuff going on with I feel like even recently with hacking and everything and with AI, what do you have in place that helps prevent anything like that? [00:03:28] Speaker A: Yes. So hacking is something we think a lot about. So the master list and all the information of where people actually live, that is all on a non networked computer. It is not connected to the Internet and we have specific security protocols and procedures in place so that no one can ever get that information because you are right. Without that, there is no program. That's the whole basis of the program. And so we have to protect that. And we do. [00:03:57] Speaker B: I want to dive into our voting information and talk a little bit about why is accessible voting an important part of democracy and what does it mean to be able to ensure Minnesotans with disabilities and without disabilities to vote independently and privately? [00:04:19] Speaker A: Yes. Well, the freedom to vote applies to every eligible voter. I stress every eligible voter, regardless of disability, regardless of zip code, regardless of background or life experience. If you meet the basic tests, if you are 18, if you are a citizen, if you are a resident of Minnesota, which means you've laid your head here for 20 days, it doesn't matter what your disability status is, your history, anything. You have the freedom to vote. You have the right to vote. And it's up to our office and partners to ensure that that. And that means making it as easy as possible for people who are eligible to participate in voting. And that is what we do. That is what we are committed to. [00:05:02] Speaker B: So how long before voting can people register and what do they need to register to vote? If they've just moved or just moved here? [00:05:10] Speaker A: Yes. Right. Well, you can register anytime in Minnesota. And remember, we are among the states that have same day or election day voter registration, meaning you can register to vote every even on election day. There is no cutoff. There is no artificial cutoff as there is in many other states. So here's how I think of voter registration. It really comes down to two things. You have to show that you are who you say you are and you live where you say you live. That's it. Pretty simple, pretty common sense. The good news in Minnesota is we have a very long and flexible list of things you can use to show one or both of those. It isn't just a government issued photo id. Many people have that or use that, but some people don't. And so you can use, I'm just giving an example from the list. But you can use a utility bill. You can have a neighbor vouch for where you live. For example, if you go to our website, which is mnvotes.gov that's mnvotes.gov. there's information there about all the various things you can use to do that. And then during election season, we have a call center like right now, where anyone with any questions not just about registration can call. And I have to give that number. It's 877600, vote. That's 877600 vote. And we also have that service available in American Sign Language as well. So we have specific accommodations for voters with disabilities. [00:06:46] Speaker B: I have heard people say before in other states that they're very jealous of our voting flexibility. Here I'd like to talk about the options that are available to voters with disabilities who want to vote in person and what accessible equipment at polling places or accommodations there are. [00:07:10] Speaker A: Yes, well, fortunately, under federal law, every single polling place, anywhere, doesn't matter where in the United States of America must have accessible voting equipment. And we in Minnesota have many options. There are about five different pieces of equipment that are certified for use in Minnesota. We do that certification and it enables voters with all sorts of possible disabilities to vote in a way that is private. These are ballot marking devices. Remember we have paper ballots in Minnesota, no touch screen voting. But some folks need assistance in marking their ballot and they want to do it in a private way, in a way that doesn't expose their vote to someone else knowing in the polling place. And so we have this assisted voting technology everywhere in Minnesota, everywhere in America. And that is an option for any voter, not just a voter with disability, can use these machines to mark their ballot privately, anonymously, confidentially. [00:08:12] Speaker B: So my understanding, as you said, every polling place must have an accessible voting machine. I am wondering, it's my understanding also that they aren't necessarily the same accessible voting machine. How does that work? Who decides what accessible voting machine they're going to have? And you know, maybe you can go through a little bit on that. [00:08:33] Speaker A: Absolutely, absolutely. So for any piece of elections equipment in Minnesota, whether it's meant for people with disabilities or not, whether that's the tabulating machines or accessibility options, there is a certification process. It's a two level certification process. The first level is at the federal level. It must pass a test by an independent federal lab. Then and only then is that piece of equipment eligible to be certified in Minnesota. And then our office takes over. We then go through a one, sometimes two day certification process that's open to the public. It's noticed in advance. It's a public meeting. Anyone can come to our office and watch and record and take stock of what we do. We run these machines through the paces to make sure they're working accurately, working as they're intended. And if they pass the test that we set up, then they are certified for use in Minnesota. Now it is the county's, not our office that makes a choice of which brand or vendor to choose. So to use a restaurant analogy, we place these pieces of Equipment that we certify on the menu, so to speak, but it's up to the county to order off the menu. So right now we have five different pieces of assistive voting technology that are on the menu. We don't choose for Hennepin county or Anoka county or Lake of the woods county which vendor or which piece of equipment. It's up to them. But they must choose from off of that vendor. They have options and it's up to them which one they choose. Not us. [00:10:11] Speaker B: And I, being a user of them, can tell you some are better than the others. [00:10:16] Speaker A: Oh, which ones do you like the best? [00:10:18] Speaker B: Well, I'd have to remember the names, but the ones that are in my district I like, which were not always there, but they are now. I wonder about physical disabilities with wheelchairs or somebody who has cognitive disabilities. What things are put in place to make sure they can get under the, you know, voting machines with their wheelchair or be able to vote and have their own opinions or not be swayed. [00:10:51] Speaker A: Yes. A couple of things come to mind there. First, in terms of just accessibility and access, physical access, there are a lot of standards in federal and state law about that. Everything from the widths of doors to the kinds of door handles to the closeness of parking and restroom facilities to the service. The vote surface, as you say, for those who use a wheelchair, a high top surface that accommodates people who stand and vote isn't going to be very helpful. So every polling place in Minnesota must have under law a voting surface that is sort of table level that will accommodate someone who uses a wheelchair. That's one example. In terms of other kinds of assistance. You know, I had this with my father. My father in his later years was, had difficulties, physical difficulties and disabilities. So I would help him to physically vote. And the rule in Minnesota, which we went to court to clarify by the way, is that any voter can bring whoever they wish to the polling place to assist them. There is one exception and that is you can't have someone who is your employer or from a union that you represent. So no labor and business folks that you are interested tied to. Interesting. But other than that, it could, it could be a friend, it could be a neighbor, it doesn't have to be an eligible voter. It could be an 11 year old. [00:12:18] Speaker B: Really? [00:12:18] Speaker A: Yes. [00:12:18] Speaker B: So an 11 year old could assist you even though they're not of legal age. [00:12:22] Speaker A: That's right, it could be. But this is someone to physically assist. Obviously it is unlawful for anyone to try to influence you about who to vote for. So the 11 year old or the 40 year old can't say, well, you want to vote for her? This is the kid you want. Let's mark your ballot for that one. Or he's the best one here, you can't do that. But in terms of physical assistance, making sure that a voter is voting the way he or she wants to, it is your choice. Other than it can't be an employer or someone from your union, but other than that, it can be a neighbor, it can be a friend, it could be a random person off the street. You are entitled to bring whoever you want. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't bring who you want to the polling place. [00:13:05] Speaker B: Interesting, excellent things to know. I want to know and actually one of these things happened to me. Let's say you show up and something is not accessible via the machine or the place itself. I had one time where I will say I showed up, they had packed my machine up early and I pushed extremely hard on them and they said, well, no one had touched it all day. No excuse. By the way, my understanding the machine should be up immediately when any other available voting is up. What should one do if they have a complaint, how do they launch it? [00:13:47] Speaker A: At least two ways. One is exactly what you did. The election judges should be trained. And in the specific instance you're describing, they fell down on the job. The job is there is no time limit. Every minute and every second that the polling place is open, there must be an operational, usable, accessible voting machine for everyone, period. It doesn't matter if no one's touched, has to be there the entire time. So number one, number one, push back on the election judges and let them know about what is substandard or what is lacking. Number two, we would like to know about it. You know, in our office, in the office of Secretary of State, we have a disability advisory council. We meet quarterly. But even when we're not meeting, we're still doing work and wanting to hear from folks. So our number, we urge you to call us is 877-600-VEt. That's 877-600-VEt-VOTE. And we want to know about that. Now why do we want to know about that? We want to know about that because one of our ongoing missions is polling place by polling place to do accessibility audits. Now we have thousands of polling places, so we can't do all of them every election just from a people power standpoint. We can't get to all of them. But we want to hear from people out in the field, out in polling places, what is lacking, what is substantial standard so we can get them to change for the next election, remind them of their legal obligation. And it is in the law, state and federal, to make these polling places accessible. And there are specific standards and they must be met. So we want to know if a particular polling place is out of step and not meeting their legal obligations. [00:15:29] Speaker B: And if somebody shows up, let's say midday or mid afternoon, and they say, oh, we didn't, you know, well, we put it away because the machine wasn't working right, really that day, what can they do? [00:15:42] Speaker A: What they can do is tell the election judge, under state and federal law, you are forbidden from shutting down that elections equipment just for, I don't know, convenience sake or something else. It is unlawful not to have operational elections equipment for people with disabilities. And every minute and every second that the poll is open, and practically speaking, let's say they shrug their shoulders, then we want to hear about it because it may be in a particular case that we could get instant relief from a court that we would partner with the attorney general's office to go to court and order them to turn that equipment back on, to put it back where it was. [00:16:23] Speaker B: Even that day, though. [00:16:24] Speaker A: Even that day. Even that day, yes. [00:16:26] Speaker B: And so this is clearlyI mean we're based out of KFAI and we're broadcasting in Minnesota, but this is pretty global. So for the United States, is this the rule in every state? [00:16:42] Speaker A: Yes, the rule in every state that I can tell you is every single polling place must have an accessible voting machine during its entire, the entirety of its operation, from the second it opens to the second it closes. That is universal. In Minnesota, we have extra and more specific laws on other aspects of accessibility in the polling place. Things like parking place, restroom access, elevators, door widths, door handles, etc. [00:17:14] Speaker B: Steve, I wonder what we could talk about, absentee voting and what that process is for people. [00:17:23] Speaker A: Yes, absolutely. In Minnesota, anyone has three options to vote. Three basic physical options to vote. One is in person on election day, one is in person before election day. And we are currently in that zone that started September 18th where anyone can go into a local office in their city or town and vote before election day in person. And then the third option, of course, is to vote from home, where a ballot will be mailed to a person at home. So the latter two options, in person, early and in person from home, are considered absentee voting or early voting before the election. So those are the options for any person in Minnesota, you don't have to Have a doctor's note or an excuse or an explanation of any kind. You can just do it because you want to do it. [00:18:12] Speaker B: And as far as if somebody has difficulty returning or getting their ballot in, what should they do? [00:18:20] Speaker A: Yes, a couple of things. First, I always remind people that just because the ballot is mailed to you does not mean that you have to return it by mail. You can, but some people don't want to do that for a lot of different reasons. So you can always hand deliver it to the elections office that sent it to you. Or in most cases, you can have someone that you know and trust hand deliver it for you. Now, why do I say in most cases? I'll get a little technical here. We have a law in Minnesota that limits everyone, you, me, or any of your listeners to three other people's ballots that you can deliver not for a day, but for the entire election season. So let me give you an example. Let's say my wife and I decided one election to vote from home. And we do. And I say to my wife, hey, you know what? I'm heading into Hopkins City hall to drop my ballot off. Have you voted yours? You want me to take yours along? She said, oh, that would be a huge help. Thank you. And while you're at it, our next door neighbor neighbors, the couple next door, I think they voted by. Why don't you check with them? Because I'm sure they'd appreciate it too. And let's say they say, oh, that would be a huge help. So now I've brought my wife's and the two next door neighbors. I have now reached my maximum, not just for the day, but for the whole election. So I'm only allowed to bring three other peoples in that is logged. So when I bring it in, I have to they log who brought it in and for whom. They brought it in just so they can force that law. But in most cases, as I say, you can have someone you know, unless they've already delivered three people's ballots, you can have them hand deliver it for you as well. [00:19:56] Speaker B: But are there just ballot boxes that you could drop them in? [00:19:59] Speaker A: That too. [00:20:00] Speaker B: But then how would you control that you just drop three in. [00:20:03] Speaker A: That's a great question. That's a really great question. That's come up a lot, which is we have a rule on dropping it off in an office, but couldn't someone drop more than three off in a ballot box or couldn't they drop in some other way? The law in Minnesota is that ballot drop boxes have to have Cameras on them. So that was passed a few years ago. So all the official ballot drop boxes that we have have 24, seven video surveillance just to ensure compliance with that law. [00:20:33] Speaker B: And does the ballot box make you insert one at a time or do you. Can you just stuff? [00:20:40] Speaker A: I mean, no. It's sort of like a regular federal mailbox, right? You don't necessarily have to put one at a time. You can put in a couple, two, three, or however many it will accommod. But that is on video. [00:20:54] Speaker B: We don't have online voting, correct? [00:20:57] Speaker A: No, we don't have. [00:20:58] Speaker B: There are some states that do. [00:21:00] Speaker A: Well, no one has online voting. No one yet has voting where you're literally voting online. But what they do have in some places is the ability to receive your blank ballot electronically. So it's a little complicated. In Minnesota, the only folks who get that accommodation, meaning you can have your blank ballot emailed to you, are people who are either in the uniformed services, so in the military and so forth, or people who are living overseas. So a Minnesota exchange student spending the semester in London, let's say she can vote that way and get her ballot sent electronically. One of the things that we are talking about doing with partners is a pilot project that would enable people with disabilities to get that same accommodation. In other words, someone with a disability could get the blank ballot sent to them electronically and maybe even be able to return the completed ballot electronically as well. We're in discussion based on security measures to make sure that it's secure. About a pilot project that might include that possibility. [00:22:19] Speaker B: Oh, I can hear the other side with this one. [00:22:23] Speaker A: Well, it's a balance always between accessibility and security. Right. And you want both. And some say, no, we need that accessibility. Others say, well, wait a minute, is it secure? We don't want that to be hacked or interfered with in any way. So. So that's why there is talk, I should say out there, about maybe a small, limited pilot project to see if that would work and if that can be done securely. [00:22:51] Speaker B: Okay. So I am going to. I think that's a great, you know, thing to be able to do that. Once they fill that ballot out, what do they do with it if they were going to do that? [00:23:10] Speaker A: Well, that's the issue, because if they filled it out, they would be able to return it electronically in some way. And there are some states that do allow that. We would have to get up to speed in Minnesota about how they do that. But the tricky thing is the security piece, right? Not being just physically able to put it in some sort of electronic file, but testing the security so that no one intercepts or interferes with that ballot. That has been the hesitancy, I have to say, by our office and by others in Minnesota is making sure that it isn't somehow intercepted, changed, altered in any way. So we would need to make sure that we have confidence in that before even proceeding with the pilot project. [00:23:48] Speaker B: Excellent. And so all these things that we've discussed in regards to early voting or you know, laws about how many voters, ballots you can bring in or who can help you maybe change from state to state, how can people find out the rules in their state? [00:24:08] Speaker A: Yes, that's a good question. Because in our country, of course, states are in charge of most of the elections related rules. I would urge people, if they're wondering in their particular state what the laws or rules are, to go to eac.gov that's the election Assistance Commission, which is a federal agency designed to help states administer elections. It's the Election assistance commission or EAC. And their website, I believe is eac.gov and there you can find out based on where you live, what the laws or rules are in your particular state. And for Minnesotans listening to this broadcast, we have all of that for you on our website, which is mnvotes.gov that's, that's m n v o t e [00:24:59] Speaker B: s.gov and is that website accessible with screen readers and other. [00:25:04] Speaker A: It is accessible and as I mentioned, we even have a call center which enables people to call and we have a. For those with a hearing related disability, we have an American Sign Language call center as well. And again that number is 877-600-VOTE. [00:25:25] Speaker B: And that just pertains to Minnesota. [00:25:27] Speaker A: That just pertains to Minnesota. [00:25:28] Speaker B: Okay. All right. I want to bring up something that has disturbed me hearing which is, I believe I heard one in California where somebody came in and I believe it was the deputy of something. I won't be able to quote who it was exactly. Took a bunch of voting records and went to supposedly figure out if they were legal. [00:25:55] Speaker A: Right. [00:25:56] Speaker B: And then in Atlanta there was a huge thing that happened where a bunch of records were taken. [00:26:02] Speaker A: Yes. [00:26:03] Speaker B: So how, what, what happened there and where were the protections and who really is legally available or able to take anything like that? Can you talk a little bit about this? [00:26:20] Speaker A: I sure can. I sure can. That's something we've watched very carefully. The first example you mentioned in California was something done by a local sheriff. He happened to be running for governor. In my view, it was more of A political stunt. The courts in California made him reverse course, and he did. The second instance was that the FBI was dispatched to Fulton County, Georgia, which is Atlanta, basically, to seize ballot related materials from the 2020 election that also is in court, because people have said that they got the search warrant to do that on a faulty basis, that they misled the court in getting that warrant. Here's what I can tell you about Minnesota. We are on guard and on the watch for exactly those kinds of things. And we feel very good about the laws in Minnesota and the federal laws as well, which do not entitle, under most normal circumstances, law enforcement to go in, particularly before the fact, particularly before an election, and start seizing things like that, like ballot materials. So one of the things that we've been doing over the last several months is cooperating with partners all over the place, including the Attorney General's office, to be prepared instantly on a moment's notice to go to court and stop and reverse exactly that kind of thing. Now, I'm not predicting it will happen in Minnesota or that there will even be an attempt, but if there is an attempt, you can bet that our office, the Attorney General's office, and county attorneys across the state will be on guard, will be ready to push back in the courts to communicate with the public so that no one gets the wrong idea about the sanctity and the privacy of that information. Particularly before an election. You know, after an election, after ballots have been cast, sometimes people contest the election or claim that the math is wrong or claim that there was fraud and that's their right, and they can go to court and they can have access to those completed ballots under certain limited, controlled circumstances. It's up to any citizen who doesn't agree or thinks that an election was wrongly certified to attack that certification with evidence. Not just a vibe or a hunch or a whim, but evidence. That's okay. But before the election, to start seizing things is, to put it mildly, unconventional, and we are ready with partners to push back immediately against that. [00:28:46] Speaker B: So I just want to step back to those other situations. Who. I mean, howwho handed those over, and were they the original records, and how do we know they weren't altered? [00:28:59] Speaker A: Well, I know more about Georgia than I do about the California situation. But in Georgia, there was a warrant. They did get a court to sign off on a warrant to seize these ballots. Now, again, this was done a few months ago, and it was with respect to ballots from the 2020 election. So it had nothing to do with the 2026 election. That doesn't make it any less alarming, but it didn't have anything to do with what we're all in the process of now, this election right now. They did have a warrant, but Fulton county and others are pushing back, saying, well, sure, you got a warrant based on faulty, false, and misleading information. So right now they are litigating, they are fighting about exactly that, undoing and revers, reversing that. So they made off with about 700 plus boxes full of materials related to the 2020 election. The problem, as you rightly note in your question, is once you do that and take that stuff away, you're kind of breaking the chain of custody. So when you break the chain of custody, it's harder to prove much of anything about those ballots because there's a process, there's a procedure. They're supposed to be stored in safekeeping in a certain way. And when you interfere with that, you're really interfering with the legitimacy or sanctity of the data itself. So I don't know that the federal government did itself many favors in doing what it did, because if there were ever some attempt to undo or call into question an election, the first thing people will say is, well, you took all the ballots. Instead of just inspecting them under conditions at the county, you removed them from the premises. You broke the chain of custody. And so. So that calls into question the accuracy of the ballots that you took. [00:30:40] Speaker B: Right. So those ballots, those are the only record, Right. There's not another one that is, like, hidden in the underground, whatever? [00:30:53] Speaker A: No, that's it. [00:30:54] Speaker B: Okay. All right. Should we be worried about. I mean, Minnesota's pretty strong, and I feel like we're pretty stable with and watchful. But what about our neighboring states? Should we worry that something's going to happen with them? Are they as committed to making sure things flow fairly and legally? [00:31:19] Speaker A: Yes, I think the states are. My colleagues, secretaries of state of both political parties are concerned, but are also conscientious. And they want what I want, which is stable, calm elections. But it may not be up to them. And what I'm thinking about specifically is what if there is some sort of interference from the federal government? Now, I want to make clear to your listeners, I'm not predicting that will happen. I'm just saying we have to be prepared for the possibility that that would happen. And there, you know, the states might not be in full control if someone from the federal government tries to do something. I hope that doesn't happen. But I can tell you this. This is why I'M optimistic. Many states, including us, obviously we are gaming out and actively planning for these scenarios, including some sort of federal interference. Again, we're not predicting that will happen. I don't want to be alarmist here. But just like we plan for a weather event or like we plan for a power outage or things like that, we plan for those things all the time, even though we're not predicting them just because we're planning for them. Same here. In the case of some sort of interference from the federal government, we have good partners, good strategies, good plans in place. I feel good about our ability to handle those things and I hope they never happen. [00:32:33] Speaker B: I wonder if you might talk about the training that voting judges go through. [00:32:39] Speaker A: Yes. [00:32:40] Speaker B: What kind of training do they go through, including any training to handle or to help or assist people with disability? Yes. [00:32:48] Speaker A: Thank you. Well, first of all, it takes 30,000 election judges every November election to put on an election. That's a small army. So I am always really thankful to those who step up and stand up and do that job. And by the way, it is paid. It is a job. It isn't a volunteer opportunity. For those of your listeners still wondering, yes, you can still do that job. And I would recommend reaching out to a local city, not just the one you live in. There's no residency requirement. If you're over 18, you can do it anywhere in Minnesota. But, but they are trained. There's a mandatory two hour training session for all election judges. It's administered by the counties, but we train the trainers. In other words, we train the county people who administer the training to the 30,000 people. And you're right, among the items that they're trained on is accessibility for all, access for all, the use of the assisted voting technology, the need for accommodations, the, the requirement in the law, the legal requirement that they have certain features in the polling place that accommodate all voters, including voters with disabilities. So that is very much part of the training. And they are read in on those requirements so they know what they are. There is no reason or no excuse for them not to follow those things. [00:34:11] Speaker B: And so in order to be an election judge, what are, are there qualifications at all? [00:34:18] Speaker A: Yes, there are. Well, you can start being an election judge at age 16. Believe it or not, 16 and 17 year olds can be student election judges, which means they can do many, not every single function that a regular election judge can do, but many, most of them actually. But Anyone who's over 18 can do it in Minnesota. You have to be an eligible voter in Minnesota. So you must be a citizen. You must be eight. You must be, well, 16 and over. You must be a resident of the state, which means you've laid your head here for 20 days. But again, there is no requirement that you necessarily do it in the place where you live. Sometimes there's an understandable misunderstanding. People will say, well, I live in Minneapolis, and it sounds like they're full, so I guess I can't be an election judge. That's not true. If you want to do it in St. Paul or any other place you can think of, you can do it. If they'll have you talk about again, [00:35:13] Speaker B: cover again how your office gathers feedback from anything that might be problematic or any discrimination they felt or any disability thing that wasn't followed. [00:35:24] Speaker A: Yes, well, we want to hear about it. And so, as I say, we have a quarterly disability advisory council that meets at least four times a year. And even when we're not meeting, we're exchanging information and analysis and reports from the field. And so we want to hear from you. Our phone number is 877600, vote. That's 877600, vote. And we want to hear those reports. You can provide them anonymously if you saw something, both the presence of something or the absence of something, in a polling place that should be there, that should serve all voters, including voters with a disability. We want to know if a place is out of compliance. We want to give them a chance to remedy that and help them if they need help in figuring out how to comply with the law. [00:36:14] Speaker B: And people from other states, how can they report it? [00:36:19] Speaker A: Well, I would report it to their secretary of state office or their state elections board. Some states have secretaries of state who don't do elections. So in your particular state, I would do that. If you're in doubt about what kind of state you live in when it comes to the duties and responsibilities of the secretary of state, I would go again to the Election Assistance Commission. That's a federal agency that assists states in putting on elections. It's the EAC and its website is eac.gov. [00:36:49] Speaker B: so what types of changes do you see that need to be made or things that you think you know could be better? [00:36:59] Speaker A: Yes, I think there are a couple things that come to mind that we're looking to tackle. One is even greater accessibility for the public in terms of how elections work. Our laws are really good about polling places, meaning that they're very clear and precise about who can be there and what they can do when they're there. But they're less clear about what happens at 8:01, meaning a minute after the polling place closes. So we want to afford more clarity about who can be where and giving opportunities for the public to watch as much as they can without obviously interfering with the election process, including and especially the absentee ballot process, just so people can watch that process and know what's going on. A second thing that is important to our office is, is making sure that the public is as well as informed as it can be or wants to be on candidates. You know, 32 states, not including Minnesota, have a statewide voter guide that is typically issued by their secretary of state's office. We don't do that. We're interested in pursuing that. You know, we hear a lot from people who say, man, you know, there's a lot of contests on this ballot. Sure, I'm familiar with the big stuff. I know there's a governor's race, for example, but. But man, it's hard to get information on the candidates for county commissioners and the judges and the school board. So to the extent we can, we'd like to experiment with some sort of voter guide, as 32 other states do, that we could put out either on paper that we mail to folks or online to help people make their decision, to feel more comfortable with their knowledge of who and what is on the ballot. [00:38:43] Speaker B: Excellent. Well, AI, going back to a little bit about that, as you know, is the big thing now. I imagine it's only going to get more and more into everything like it already kind of is. Do you see any difficulties, trouble, problems, things that we have to put in place differently because of that? [00:39:10] Speaker A: Well, AI in elections, at least so far, has mostly been an issue around campaigns, artificial images that look very much like real human beings, deep fakes and the like. We haven't in elections and administration so far faced these kinds of challenges. I'm not to say we won't in the future, but for now they've been limited to the campaign realm. We don't regulate or oversee campaign conduct. There are others that do, but that's where we've seen the biggest sort of alarm bells there. [00:39:42] Speaker B: Is there anything that we're thinking about doing in regards to, like having some kind of special mark come up on a deep fake or something, even just blanket, not true information? [00:39:58] Speaker A: Well, generally speaking, with AI images, there is this technology of watermarking which people are talking about more and more, which would alert people somehow. But sometimes, sometimes you don't really detect an AI image until after it's already aired. After a lot of People have been exposed to it. That's better than nothing, of course. But I'm interested and intrigued with the idea of using technology to counteract the other technology. I think technology can help beat back some of the threats with technology. [00:40:30] Speaker B: So if you have then a voter now who maybe stopped voting for a number of years because they felt intimidated or just has never voted before, what should they do to start getting themselves ready? [00:40:44] Speaker A: Yes, I would tell anyone who's either a lapsed voter or a person who's never voted that it is never too late, particularly because we have same day voter registration. So even if you didn't decide until the night before or the day of the election that you wanted to vote, you can still do it. You can still go to a polling place and you can register to vote right there. And remember, you just need to show that you are who you say you are and you live where you say you live. And we have a long and flexible list of things you can use to show either or both of those things. And again, our website is mnvotes.gov, mnvotes.gov and on that website you can find out what those documents and those proofs are. It's quite accommodating, it's quite flexible. As long as you can show those two things, you can be part of this process now. [00:41:30] Speaker B: And for people from other states, people [00:41:33] Speaker A: from other states, I would again check with the Election Assistance Commission or eac, or with your own state's office of Secretary of State or Elections board, depending on the state you live in. [00:41:45] Speaker B: So I would really like to make people feel comfortable with like. Like they know that their vote is secure and they know that there's not going to be any issues hopefully on that day. Tell me again what you have set in place to deal with anything that would come up. [00:42:12] Speaker A: Yes, we've done a lot of planning this election cycle in particular with a lot of partners throughout the state. Everything from county and city elections administrators to sheriffs to county attorneys to police chiefs. We feel we're ready for almost anything that could be thrown our way. If there is a problem, a violation in irregularity, the first line of defense is talk to the election judges in your polling place or the people in your county and city who run elections. But we want to hear about it as well because depending on the situation, we might have to run to a court and get a court order on that very day. So again, our number is 877-600-VOTE. That's 877-600-VOTE. And we want to hear from you and we can help. [00:42:59] Speaker B: And people in other states should look up their Secretary of State's number. [00:43:03] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:43:04] Speaker B: On the EAC website. [00:43:06] Speaker A: Yes, that's right. [00:43:06] Speaker B: Okay, so I think that the big cities will be kind of on guard in looking at this and kind of making sure that you things run smoothly. What happens in rural areas? [00:43:19] Speaker A: Well, in rural areas they are extremely thoughtful and conscientious and they're on it, believe me. You know, they are just as, you know, competent and experienced and seasoned and vigilant as anyone else in the state. There are differences, of course, between urban areas and rural areas, but. But each area has its own challenges, its own advantages and disadvantages. But nobody in Minnesota, no matter where they live, will be disadvantaged in any way based on where they live. And I have full confidence in the excellent people that we have, particularly in greater Minnesota, who do a really great and conscientious job. [00:43:59] Speaker B: And if you could see anything for our elections in the future, what would you, what would you like to see? [00:44:07] Speaker A: I think it's, it's that ever growing accessibility for voters and. More opportunities for members of the public to view more things as well, because that's a good way to put to rest, you know, conspiracy theories or things that have no basis in fact but do get spread as myths and rumors out there. The more people can observe in some way and be close to the process, the better. [00:44:38] Speaker B: Yeah, I wish there was some kind of super secure place where people could go and put in something that's reliable and have pull up stuff and say that's a lie, that's not true. [00:44:51] Speaker A: Right. [00:44:53] Speaker B: I mean, kind of like our, you know, but it feels like it's always going to be subject to somebody's, you know, trust that you're going to trust that person. [00:45:03] Speaker A: Yeah, trusted sources are important and I think secretaries of state offices everywhere have that information about what the law is and what it isn't. [00:45:11] Speaker B: I feel like now, though, with so much social media and everything, that trust is one of the hardest things. [00:45:20] Speaker A: It's harder than it once was. But I think ultimately you can gain and expand that trust by delivering the results and the accountability and the accessibility that people want and expect and have earned. [00:45:32] Speaker B: Well, Secretary Simon, is there anything more you'd like to leave us with? [00:45:35] Speaker A: Just remember our website, mnvotes.gov remember that phone number, 877600 vote to answer any of your questions or address any of your concerns. Thank you for having me. [00:45:46] Speaker B: And for outstate members, I would call [00:45:48] Speaker A: or go to the website of the Election Assistance Commission or eac. [00:45:53] Speaker B: Secretary Simon, thank you. [00:45:55] Speaker A: Thank you so much. [00:45:56] Speaker B: It's been great and very informational. [00:45:58] Speaker A: Thank you. [00:46:00] Speaker B: For all those who have not voted yet, please go vote. It really does matter, and I guess I feel like voting is a privilege and you need to take that privilege seriously. This is KFAI 90.3 FM, Minneapolis and KFORG. This has been Disability and Progress, where we bring you insights and into ideas about and discussions on disability topics. The views expressed on this show are not necessarily those of KFAI or its board of directors. If you'd like to be on our email list, you may email me at disabilityandprogressamjasmon.com that's disabilityandprogressamjasmon.Com we welcome all comments and thank you very much for listening. This week, we were speaking with Secretary of State in Minnesota, Steve Simon. Please go vote. Take care, everyone.