Secretary of State Steve Simon pins re-election hopes on confidence in Minnesota's voting systems

Minnesota's typically sleepy secretary of state race has been thrust into the national spotlight this election cycle, with millions pouring into the state to defend incumbent Democrat Steve Simon.

An avid backer of early and expanded voting access, Simon's bid for a third term is seen as a test of voters' trust in their election systems amid a tense national debate over the results of the 2020 presidential race. Last month, Simon's face landed on the cover of Time magazine as a defender of elections. He recently got the endorsement of U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., who sits on the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

"There are people all over the country who are interested in and want to help out in the Minnesota Secretary of State's race, even if they've never been to Minnesota," said Simon. "It's been something to behold."

The attention on Minnesota is as much about Simon as it is about his Republican opponent, Kim Crockett, who is among a handful of secretary of state candidates nationwide who have denied or cast doubt on the legitimacy of the 2020 election.

Despite numerous audits that upheld Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump, Crockett thinks the enforcement of Minnesota's voting laws has gotten lax and is partly to blame for growing distrust in election results.

"When people ask me what happened in Minnesota, I have to say I don't know," she said. "I don't know because our secretary of state wasn't committed to counting our votes with security in mind versus turnout and convenience in mind."

The campaign arm of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State (DASS) is spending $11 million on ads to help re-elect Simon and support Democratic candidates in Michigan and Nevada.

"After what we saw with Jan. 6, after what we've seen across the country with this coordinated effort with disinformation and conspiracy theories, we've seen these offices come to the forefront of peoples' minds," said Semedrian Smith, deputy executive director of DASS. "People really care about democracy and it's one of the top issues they will be voting on."

Over the years, Simon has made a name for himself as an elections wonk who pushed to expand early voting and keep Minnesota at the top of national voter turnout.

His interest in elections was sparked during the 2000 presidential race between Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore and the subsequent recount. In his office, Simon keeps a 2000 voting machine from Florida — the state that eventually decided the outcome of the presidential election.

In 2004, Simon won a seat in the Minnesota House and was appointed to the chamber's elections committee. He eventually became chair, helping to broker a deal to move the state's primary election from September to August. He was a vocal opponent of a failed 2012 ballot initiative to require a photo ID to vote.

But it was his push to institute no-excuse early absentee voting for all Minnesotans that laid the groundwork for his secretary of state candidacy in 2014. He won that race and his 2018 bid for re-election, overseeing state elections as Minnesota led the nation in turnout three cycles in a row.

His advocacy to expand early voting has more recently drawn criticism from Republicans, who argue the state's 46-day window to vote early is too long and invites complications. In three counties this fall, ballots had to be corrected after they were sent to voters with the wrong information on them.

Early voting exploded in 2020 over concerns about exposure to COVID-19. Crockett has alleged that Simon "rigged" the election in Minnesota when he agreed to a court-approved consent decree that relaxed some absentee voting requirements amid the pandemic. Crockett argues those changes favored Democrats, who she believes are more likely to vote by mail than Republicans.

Simon said the push to expand early voting had bipartisan support in Minnesota and only recently became a target of attacks. While voters have the 46-day window to cast ballots early, he said many wait until closer to the election, with a dramatic spike the week before Election Day.

In his campaign, Simon talks about the 2020 election as the "ultimate stress test for our democracy." He said the policies that were in place helped ensure Minnesotans could feel safe casting their ballot.

"Minnesota aced the test," said Simon. "That highlights the strength of our system, its resiliency and our democracy in Minnesota."

Even before 2020, Simon's office found itself in the middle of tense disputes with both parties.

As secretary of state, he took his own party to court in 2016 and won after Democrats attempted to keep Trump off the ballot. Despite winning the presidential race that year, Trump claimed without evidence that voter fraud prevented him from getting the popular vote. His campaign pushed to get state voter data, which Simon refused.

Minnesota was also one of 21 states targeted by Russian hackers in 2016. State systems weren't breached, but Simon spent months afterward battling with the Legislature to authorize the state to use federal funds to boost cyber security in state elections.

And like other secretaries of state across the country, Simon has had to regularly talk with law enforcement about his security in the aftermath of the 2020 election. GOP gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen has said Simon should be imprisoned for his handling of the state's elections. Simon has not been accused of any crime.

"These allegations and this disinformation has gotten more and more brazen, and blatant and dangerous," Simon said.

Democrat Mark Ritchie, who held the job before Simon, remembers how difficult it was to run for secretary of state while helping all 87 counties administer the upcoming election.

"You're doing a big management job and people from other parts of the country are maybe lobbing Molotov cocktails at you," said Ritchie, who praises Simon's handling of the office as "exemplary."

A September Star Tribune/MPR News/KARE 11 Minnesota Poll showed Simon with an eight-point lead over Crockett. The same poll found more than eight in 10 voters said they have high or moderate confidence in the election results, though there was a sharp partisan divide in the responses.

If he's re-elected, Simon expects he'll spend more time playing defense on the state's early voting systems. He also wants his office to continue combatting election disinformation, reminding Minnesotans about the checks already in place in the system.

"It's not just about swatting down rumors or false allegations," he said. "We have a responsibility to be transparent."

Despite controversies, Simon thinks Minnesotans vote in high numbers because they feel confident in their election systems. He thinks the country will get past this moment.

"I do look at the longer term and think we have the ingredients, we have the institutions to weather these kinds of challenges," he said. "I think we will. It might take awhile, but I think we will."

Staff writer Ryan Faircloth contributed to this report.