Over the past few days, evidence of alleged voter fraud has been exposed in the metro area. Videos show a campaign worker engaging in ballot harvesting and claiming that elderly voters have been pressured to request and turn over their absentee ballots to campaign workers before they fill them out. 

Senator Mark Johnson (R-East Grand Forks) released the following statement in response to the video:

“These allegations, if true, threaten to undermine Minnesota’s democratic process and erode the trust Minnesotans have in our election process.  The Project Veritas video presents evidence of the concerns many people have, that activists are systematically harvesting ballots illegally to benefit DFL candidates in the metro.

While we have heard about this type of activity for years, it has never been so blatant as what was presented in these videos. Now, the next question we must ask is how deep this goes and what is the scale of the operation.

In addition to the possible fraud, there are recent changes implemented by Secretary of State Steve Simon, which reduce the standard for verification and allow ballots to be received and counted after election day. It’s a perfect storm for election trouble.

With an election only a few weeks away, this is a critical threat to our state’s democracy. Secretary of State Steve Simon, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Hennepin County officials must open investigations immediately. 

Regardless of party, it is our responsibility to ensure the safety of our elections by addressing any accusations of voter fraud so that we may preserve Minnesotan’s faith in their government.”