Good morning and welcome to Monday, one day before Election Day 2022.
🗳️ Findwho is on your ballot and where they stand with the MPR News and Populist voter guide.
If you’re not among the half million Minnesotans who have already sent in their ballots, you may have had a knock on the door over the weekend.As MPR’s Brian Bakst reports, candidates in top Minnesota races made their closing swings over the weekend while party activists hit the ground on their behalf. At a steelworkers union hall in Cottage Grove on Saturday, DFL Gov. Tim Walz sought to rev up supporters preparing to fan out in nearby neighborhoods. “I'm going to ask you to sign up and get on the doors,” Walz said. “Because I will acknowledge this: Republicans finish strong in elections because they do the psychology of fear and they bring it. They bring the fear from all sides, they rain it down.” Later in the day, about 100 people stood in steady drizzle in a park in Oakdale to hear Republican candidates, including gubernatorial nominee Scott Jensen. Jensen acknowledged being vastly outspent, but said he believes the issues and momentum will carry him past the incumbent. “The bottom line is he doesn't have a movement. And our movement is being driven by moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas. Our movement is being driven by millennials and Gen Z's,” Jensen said. “Because we're doing a better job of telling young people, we need you at the table to help solve problems.”
Brian noted that Jim Schultz, a first-time candidate locked in a tight contest for attorney general, was not with the other Republicans on their bus tour. Schultz held a separate event with police groups in Chanhassen on Saturday. He’s made violent crime a central tenet of his campaign even though the office traditionally has had a limited role in that area. “This is a critical moment for the future of our state. We have to get it done,” Schultz said. “There's no you know, we'll try again next year, we have to get it done. We can't do it. Failure is not an option.” During stops on the DFL swing, Attorney General Keith Ellison touched on consumer protection and worker rights. He said the race is a nailbiter. “We have got to close strong,” Ellison said. “And we need every one of you to get out there and talk to more neighbors, more folks, more folks who want to get involved and be a part of our community. You got to invite people to democracy. You've got to bring people into this system.”
Many will be watching how votes are counted and whether the system is fair, and elections officials are preparing.The Star Tribune reports: Election officials in Minnesota and across the country expect the finer points of voting systems to get more scrutiny than usual in Tuesday's midterm, the first contest since Donald Trump and his allies activated a national network of activists motivated by false claims of widespread voter fraud. Republicans have recruited potentially thousands of poll challengers and first-time election judges in Minnesota this cycle and are offering their own training on how to monitor voting and lodge complaints. Minnesota election officials — who rely on volunteers every cycle — hope the state's unambiguous laws dictating who can do what at polling locations mean things will go smoothly on Election Day.
For the first time in history the new 8th Congressional District includes all seven of Minnesota’s Anishinaabe reservations.MPR’s Mathew Holding Eagle III reports: White Earth Tribal Chairman Michael Fairbanks says the redistricting is a good thing. “It’s important not only to our little neck of the woods but it covers across the whole 1855, 1854 area where the bulk of the Ojibwe people, we were at. That’s kind of our ancestral grounds and I think it’s important that all of us Ojibwe nations are part of one district and I’m hoping that our voices come out and speak and we have a good election.” Seeking a third term in the new 8th District is Republican U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber running against Democrat nominee Jen Schultz. Both candidates say they have reached out to tribal nations seeking their support. On the state level the newly redrawn Senate District 2 includes White Earth, Red Lake and Leech Lake reservations. Campaigning for that seat are two White Earth enrolled members, Republican state Rep. Stephen Green and Democrat Alan Roy. Red Lake Nation member Erika Bailey-Johnson is the third Indigenous candidate vying for political position in the area. A Democrat, she is running against incumbent Republican Matt Bliss for Minnesota House District 2B.
The Pioneer Press reports:Nearly half of Minnesota’s largest school districts are keeping students home on Tuesday in order to stay out of the way of voters. Students in St. Paul and South Washington County are expected to interact with their teachers from home, and Election Day will be counted toward the districts’ legally required minimum days and hours of instruction. In seven other big districts – Anoka-Hennepin, Osseo, Rochester, Lakeville, Robbinsdale, St. Cloud and North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale – students have the day off but teachers will be working. Of the state’s 20 largest districts, the remaining 11 are holding classes as normal.
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