More than half of Minnesota county election offices have received bomb threats since Nov. 8

The threats come as election workers are still in the process of verifying the results of the 2024 election.

The Minnesota Star Tribune
November 13, 2024 at 3:26AM
Andrew McGillivary, election systems program manager for Hennepin County, hands a stack of testing ballots to Seth Gellman, elections assistant, for the public accuracy test for voting machines ahead of the upcoming elections on Oct. 11 at the Hennepin County Elections offices in Minneapolis. (Anthony Soufflé/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Election offices in more than half of Minnesota’s counties have been targeted with emailed bomb threats since Nov. 8, the Secretary of State’s Office said Tuesday.

The threats come as election workers are still in the process of verifying the results of the 2024 election.

In a statement, Secretary of State Steve Simon said his office is coordinating with local, state and federal partners to “ensure that our election officials can complete this important work and that those responsible for these threats are held accountable.”

“Threats of violence against election workers, aimed at disrupting our democracy, are absolutely unacceptable,” he said.

Turnout was high in Minnesota in 2024, but it was lower compared with the 2020 presidential election.

Unofficial 2024 results show that about 76% of registered voters cast a ballot, down from the record-breaking 79.96% turnout in 2020, the Secretary of State’s Office said last week.

The unofficial results, however, are higher than the 74.72% turnout recorded in 2016.

about the writer

about the writer

Elliot Hughes

Reporter

Elliot Hughes is a general assignment reporter for the Star Tribune.

See More

More from Elections

card image

The Biden administration is determined in its final months to help ensure that Ukraine can keep fighting off Russia's full-scale invasion next year, sending it as much aid as possible so that it might hold Russian forces at bay and possess a strong hand in any potential peace negotiations, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday.

card image
card image