Minnesota Senate State Government and Elections Chairwoman Mary Kiffmeyer sent Secretary of State Steve Simon a pointed letter this week pressing him on the technology that was used to facilitate voting on Nov. 3.
Kiffmeyer’s letter comes amid a wave of Republican skepticism directed at Dominion Voting Systems, a company that provided voting machines and software used during the 2020 election. For years, elected officials, including top Democrats and Minnesota’s own Sen. Amy Klobuchar, have raised questions about the security of Dominion products. Kiffmeyer’s letter seems to be aimed at uncovering if Dominion systems were used in Minnesota on Election Day — and if so, to what extent.
She also inquired about matters of electoral security more generally, including questions about absentee ballots.
“By now we have all heard anecdotal reports of irregular election activity, questions on software, equipment malfunctions and other concerns during this year’s election,” Kiffmeyer said in her letter. She went on to state that Minnesota has a “responsibility to review” its electoral practices “so all Minnesotans can know how this election was conducted.”
Specifically, she asked Simon to provide “a complete list of all election hardware and software vendors utilized by counties and municipalities.” She further asked that this list specify when each precinct received their voting tech and if the technology was running the most current programs available.
She also asked the secretary of state to clarify what “security checks or protocols are followed to ensure the software and hardware functions as claimed by the vendor.”
Kiffmeyer specifically named Dominion in her tenth question to Simon, asking if “Dominion software [was] connected to any precinct count tabulators” or if Dominion is connected in any way to “precinct optical scanning in the state.”
Near the end of her letter, Kiffmeyer expressed her limited faith in the performance of Simon’s office.
“Unfortunately, your office has seemingly failed to defend many longstanding bipartisan election laws in court this year,” she wrote. “It is especially concerning that every consent decree you have signed was brought forward by Democrat aligned interest groups. We must serve all Minnesotans, not only those represented by your party.”
A full list of Kiffmeyer’s queries about electoral security can be found in her letter here:
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Meanwhile, Simon seems convinced beyond all doubt that the 2020 elections were safe and secure. He recently characterized Minnesota’s remote absentee voting as “a huge success” and posted a self-congratulatory tweet praising election officials.
GREAT READ ABOUT THE 2020 ELECTION 🙌:
“It could easily have been a total train wreck. Instead, we can be proud about how well our election officials conducted this election under extremely adverse circumstances.” https://t.co/ua0QQstCoV
— Steve Simon (@MNSteveSimon) November 16, 2020
Rudy Giuliani, a key lawyer serving the Trump campaign, maintained that there is evidence of “massive fraud” on a national scale at a Thursday press conference.
