As Minnesotans cast their votes in the primary election and look ahead to November, a county commissioner is questioning what’s really going on behind the ballot.
Anoka County Commissioner Jeff Reinert joined Liz Collin on her podcast to discuss some new information regarding elections and voting machines that he believes Anoka County residents and beyond need to know about.
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“When I first found out that our voting system is uncertified, I really didn’t believe it. We are the fourth largest county in the state, and certainly we’d have certified voting equipment. But then I asked our elections team here at the county and was verified that it is not certified,” Reinert said.
“The issue is that the voting machine itself is certified by EAC. That’s a government agency that certifies equipment. But then we added a modem to it and as soon as we added that modem, the entire system became uncertified. I thought that that was a problem for us, but looking further into it, there’s about two-thirds of the counties in the state of Minnesota that are using the same setup, which means that there are two-thirds of the counties in Minnesota, roughly, that are using uncertified equipment,” Reinert explained, referring to the Election Assistance Commission (EAC).
He also pointed to the efforts and impact of a local grassroots organization focused on election integrity. “We have a group in Anoka County called Anoka County Election Integrity Team (ACEIT). And they’ve been working on various election integrity issues for the last three or four years,” Reinert said.
“But this is a huge issue,” he added.
Reinert spoke about how ACEIT “recently brought this one to us and when I first heard about it, I didn’t believe it.”
“I’m appalled to find out this information, and I am doing this interview because I think people need to know … if the state wants to have modems or if the counties want to have modems on their machines, find one that can be certified,” he added.
However, the Secretary of State’s Office issued the following statement to Alpha News when asked if the machines are, in fact, federally certified since the certification stickers had been removed:
“All elections equipment in Minnesota is certified after being tested in federally-accredited test labs and also by the Office of the Secretary of State, that process is according to MN 206.57.”
Since it’s clear the manufacturer asked for the EAC certification stickers to removed from machines with modem capability, Alpha News asked the Secretary of State to provide clarification and received this response:
“To be used in Minnesota, elections equipment must have undergone testing by a federally-accredited voting system test laboratory (VSTL) to affirm conformance with voluntary voting system guidelines. One pathway for that is the EAC’s program for testing and certification, but it is not the only way. The VSTLs that are accredited by the EAC may conduct their own certification testing of voting equipment to the same required standards. The voting system version in use in Anoka County was not tested through the EAC’s program for testing and certification, but was tested and certified by one of the VSTLs to be in conformity with voluntary voting system guidelines.
So when you say: This requested removal of the EAC certification stickers was due to the fact that Anoka County’s voting system was deemed (indirectly) by the EAC to be federally non-conforming with the minimum federal standards for voting systems (as embodied in the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines) due to the presence of federally non-conforming modeming capability in the voting system.
That’s not correct, the equipment was unable to carry the EAC’s sticker because the presence of modeming technology in the equipment means that the machines were part of a different system version than what had been certified by the EAC. Modems are permitted in our state by Minn. Stat. 206.845 subd. 2 for the limited purpose of transmitting unofficial results after the close of polls and after results have been printed.
However, to repeat, EAC-specific certification (and the associated sticker) is not required under Minnesota law.
From Minn. Stat. 206.57: ” … a voting system must be certified by an independent testing authority accredited by the Election Assistance Commission or appropriate federal agency responsible for testing and certification of compliance with the federal voting systems guidelines …”
There is no elections equipment operating in Minnesota that is not fully certified according to law.”
However, a spokesperson for ACEIT argued that the EAC does not “enumerate (or even imply) any authority by which a VSTL may represent or conduct itself as a ‘certifying’ body or entity; or that it may suggest or imply that a test report it produces, in any way constitutes a ‘certification’ of any sort.”
“VSTLs are limited in their role to only testing voting systems against established minimum federal standards (embodied in the VVSG), and producing test reports establishing their test findings, in support and aid of the federal or state certifying authorities who are making the final certification decisions,” the spokesperson said. “It is up to either the federal or state certifying authority to review the test report and make a final determination on voting system certification.”
Alpha News also featured this very issue in its latest documentary, Minnesota Mao. Derek Lind, one of the team members, talked about some of the issues ACEIT has been focused on.
For Reinert, voter trust and election integrity matter. He explained that “voter trust is one of the reasons why I got involved with this interview is because if you get to a point where people don’t trust elections, then they don’t vote. And we start to see a shrinking of our democracy. We really need to have trust in our elections and our equipment needs to be certified.”
“I want the certification stickers back on the voting machines,” Reinert said. “That’s what this is all about.”
Liz Collin
Liz Collin is a multi-Emmy-Award-winning investigative reporter, news anchor, and producer who cares about Minnesota. She is the producer of The Fall of Minneapolis and Minnesota v We the People documentary films, and author of the Amazon best-selling book, They’re Lying: The Media, the Left, and The Death of George Floyd. Her work has prompted important state laws. Yet perhaps most of all, Liz has been giving a voice to the truth—and helping others tell their stories—for more than 20 years.
Dr. JC Chaix
Dr. JC Chaix is an editor, educator, and an expert in media studies. He wrote and directed the Alpha News documentary "The Fall of Minneapolis" and "Minnesota v We the People."
