Ahead of primary, Hennepin County elections manager debunks claims of widespread voter fraud
MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota primary is Tuesday and local election officials are working hard to make sure the vote goes smoothly.
But polls show many Americans still have doubts about our election process. Polls show that 70% of Republicans still do not believe Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election.
According to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, there are close to 114,000 polling places across the U.S. For there to be widespread voter fraud polling places would have to be compromised at the local level.
At the local level, voter fraud cases are very rare, but they do happen. Earlier this year, a man was sentenced to 90 days in the workhouse after he admitted to signing someone else's name to four absentee ballots in 2018. Those ballots were pulled before the primary election.
In Hennepin County alone there are 410 polling places and hundreds of people are involved in the process, from polling place volunteers to county and state officials.
Ginny Gelms is the manager of elections for Hennepin County. She was a guest on WCCO Sunday Morning.
"In order to have some kind of systematic fraud or something like that that would actually, you know, have any material effect on the election you would have to have so many people in on the conspiracy," Gelms said.
Another well-publicized local case allegedly occurred in the 2020 primary election. A federal grand jury is investigating allegations of ballot harvesting involving a state senate election that was eventually won by State Sen. Omar Fateh. Fateh's brother-in-law was convicted of lying to the grand jury. Fateh has denied knowledge of any wrongdoing.
Election officials like Gelms insist these are isolated cases and that there is simply no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Minnesota and around the country.
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