NSS Weekly: What to Know Before Casting a Ballot

Transcript

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INTRO: You are listening to North Star Stories: Voices from Where We Live, a weekly newscast about what it means to live in Minnesota, produced by AMPERS, Minnesota's community radio stations.

BRITT AAMODT: Early voting is underway in Minnesota. These midterm elections will determine a new governor, could shift the balance of power in the state House and Senate, and may bring new faces to Minnesota's congressional delegation in Washington.

VICTOR PALOMINO: This week, we explore what voters should know before casting their ballots, how accessibility shapes the voting experience for people with disabilities, and how to be an informed consumer of political media in the digital age. I'm Victor Palomino.

BRITT AAMODT: And I'm Britt Aamodt.

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BRITT AAMODT: But first, North Star Stories reporter Xan Holston with the news that made the headlines around the state.

XAN HOLSTON: The upcoming midterm election is bringing many voters out early, and many precincts already have long lines. The Secretary of State says more than 200,000 ballots were accepted by mail or in-person voting in the first four weeks of earlier absentee voting. That's up more than 17 percent from the first four weeks of voting in the 2022 midterms. Early in-person voting continues through November 2nd. Election day is November 3.

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The next mayor of the southern city of Twin Lakes could win office in November and be out of a job by May. On the same November ballot as the mayoral election, voters will also decide whether to dissolve the city government. If they vote yes, Twin Lakes would become part of Nunda Township starting next May, and the new mayor will be out of a job.

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SHERIFF BRYAN WELK: I'm prepared to make these documents available to the public before voters pick a new sheriff in North Central Minnesota's Cass County.

XAN HOLSTON: The behind-the-scenes fight between the two candidates is heating up and going public. Current Sheriff Bryan Welk is running against county Deputy Aaron Ammerman. In January, Ammerman filed a complaint with the county and sheriff's office, accusing Welk of improperly sharing nude photos and jail videos with people who had no work-related reason to see them. AMPERS member station KAXE obtained a copy of the complaint after the county refused to make it public. The investigation itself has not yet been released. Each candidate has put out a new video statement, and Welk is calling the allegations false.

SHERIFF BRYAN WELK: I've never inappropriately disclosed protected information to people who did not need to know.

XAN HOLSTON: Welk says data privacy laws prevent him from saying more about the complaint or the county's investigation into it. In his direct response to Welk, Ammerman says he's running for the job because of alleged retaliation from Welk and the county attorney after he filed his complaint. The deputy says he's willing to publicly release the complaint and his statement to investigators and calls the way the county handled the complaint troubling.

DEPUTY AARON AMMERMAN: I believe the voters deserve an opportunity to review the facts and reach their own conclusion, rather than simply taking anyone's word for it.

XAN HOLSTON: Ammerman and Welk are the only two candidates running for sheriff on the November ballot.

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An 18-year-old accused of planning an ISIS-inspired mass shooting at the Mall of America will remain in federal custody. At his first court appearance in Minneapolis, a judge found Sheikh Dun Abdullahi Mohammed of Richfield too dangerous to release. Prosecutors say he planned the attack during the mall's Hmong art celebration. His supporters question why the FBI investigated him for two years before taking action. They're also asking if the agency encouraged and possibly even helped to radicalize an impressionable youth.

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Hotter, drier springs, less snowpack, and built-up fuel are increasing wildfire risks in northeast Minnesota. Forest specialists say prescribed burns and thinning out dead trees can limit that destruction. That includes dead and dying balsam fir on the forest floor, which has little commercial value. In an interview with AMPERS member station WTIP, Teresa Floberg with nonprofit group Dovetail Partners says developing a market for that wood could help sustain the cleanup.

TERESA FLOBERG: How can we create a circular economy that decreases wildfire risk feeds back into a market of that product that then contributes back into the local economy.

XAN HOLSTON: She says long-term prevention also needs steady funding to maintain forests and keep evacuation routes open year after year.

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Central Minnesota's Todd County now has 19 confirmed measles cases, up from one case just weeks ago. State health epidemiologists have been sounding the warning for the past two months about potential measles spread. Fillmore County in southeast Minnesota has six cases and all of the recent 25 cases in both counties are in unvaccinated patients.

NAT SOUND: We are seeing large outbreaks. The risk for anyone who is unvaccinated is higher than it was, you know, even three years ago.

XAN HOLSTON: Officials urge everyone to get vaccinated and to call ahead to a healthcare center before seeking care for possible measles.

And finally, close encounter of the cornfield kind. An 11-foot-wide metal object was found Wednesday in a Stephens County cornfield in West Central Minnesota. The sheriff's office says it may be space debris and poses no danger, but no one knows anything for sure yet. Local, state, and federal officials are investigating. As for who owns it, that's still up in the air. For North Star stories, I'm Xan Holston.

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VICTOR PALOMINO: As Minnesotans prepare for the midterm elections, many have questions about election security, voters' rights, and the protections in place.

BRITT AAMODT: Reporter Jamad Jama speaks with Minnesota's secretary of state and voting rights organizations about the options for casting a ballot and the safeguards that protect voters and their votes.

JAMAD JAMA: This November, University of Minnesota student Belle Muse will be one Minnesotan making their way to the polls.

BELLE MUSE: My relationship with voting is a new thing. I think the first time I voted was last year in a local election. I've always observed the political process, but I haven't participated until recently.

JAMAD JAMA: As the midterm election gets closer, Belle is also feeling some anxiety and uncertainty surrounding voting.

BELLE MUSE: I think you know it might feel more tense because of how kind of crazy things have been, but I think that Minnesota is really good about voter protection, and unless the federal government gets involved in some capacity, I feel like we're one of the best states, and are kind of should be an example for the rest of America.

JAMAD JAMA: Belle's concerns come as Minnesota's election system is facing scrutiny. Federal prosecutors recently charged 10 foreign nationals with illegally voting in Minnesota elections, and the Justice Department plans to increase election monitoring in the state. Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon says voters have a few different ways to cast their ballots.

SECRETARY STEVE SIMON: There are three main methods for casting a ballot in Minnesota if you're an eligible voter. First, and still the most popular, is going to a local polling place and voting in person on Election Day. The second way to vote is in person before Election Day, and then the third option for any eligible Minnesota voter is to vote from home. To order the ballot to come to you, you can early vote in person up to Monday, November 2.

JAMAD JAMA: If you are mailing a ballot, you need to mail it early enough that it will arrive by Election Day. There's a common misconception that ballots need to be postmarked by Election Day. The ballot must arrive by mail or in person by Election Day, or it won't get counted. These different options are designed to give voters flexibility, and for Minnesotans who may need additional support, Secretary Simon says that accessibility continues at the polls.

SECRETARY STEVE SIMON: Minnesotans with a disability have options and rights under the law. For one, every single voting place, no matter how big or how small or where it's located, must have an assisted voting device. This can be used for people with physical impairments, visual impairments, to help them cast their ballot, help them mark their ballot. The other thing to take note of is that any eligible voter can bring a person of their choosing with them to assist them physically with voting.

JAMAD JAMA: And for those who need language assistance, support is available throughout the voting process.

SECRETARY STEVE SIMON: We're very proud to say in our office that we have voting information and instructions both online and in print in 11 different non-English languages. Minnesota has been providing elections-related materials in non-English languages since 1896, 130 years.

JAMAD JAMA: Making voting accessible is one step in the process. There are also protections and rights in place to make sure voters can cast their ballots without any interference.

SECRETARY STEVE SIMON: We have very strong state and federal laws against voter intimidation. It means that no one can intimidate, harass, or threaten anyone voting. So if people encounter anything, the first thing they should do is talk to the election judge. The second thing they should do is tell us about it, and we have a voter hotline, and that number is 877-600-VOTE. I know that there will be a lot of challenges and perhaps even threats, but we are well positioned to withstand those.

JAMAD JAMA: The Secretary of State's office isn't the only resource available to voters. Nonpartisan groups are also working to protect voter rights throughout the election.

ANNASTACIA BELLADONNA-CARRERA: My name is Annastacia Belladonna-Carrera. I am the State Director for Common Cause Minnesota. One of the core things that we do as Common Cause is that we make sure that we are ensuring every eligible qualified voter is able to cast a ballot and have that ballot count. We are nonpartisan. We don't get involved in how people vote. We get involved in making sure that everyone who is eligible is able to cast a ballot.

JAMAD JAMA: And that work takes a few different forms.

ANNASTACIA BELLADONNA-CARRERA: One of the things that we do is that whenever it is necessary, we work with community to move various reforms. For example, being able to support and move the reforms that would allow for pop-up polling places on Native Nation lands. The other thing is also just vote early in person. That really helps a lot of folks. It helps our seniors. It helps our really busy families.

JAMAD JAMA: The idea is to make voting work for all people and all situations. But the work of these organizations also includes helping voters on what to do if they run into problems during an election.

ANNASTACIA BELLADONNA-CARRERA: We historically roll out a program that we call the Election Protection Program. It's the official Election Protection Program in the state of Minnesota. We are going to be out in the community and help them prepare to make a plan and actually again vote.

JAMAD JAMA: And Carrera says a big part of helping voters is addressing some of the uncertainty and misconceptions surrounding the election process.

ANNASTACIA BELLADONNA-CARRERA: The frustrating part of that is that that is not based on fact but rather fear. I've observed the various phases of how our ballots are handled, right? The level of security, gold standard.

JAMAD JAMA: And for Belle, having confidence in that process makes all the difference.

BELLE MUSE: If I didn't feel confident that I'd be able to cast my vote and have it counted, that would be a really bad sign for the future of our country.

JAMAD JAMA: Voters can find their polling place, view a sample ballot, or report any concerns at mnvotes.gov. For North Star Stories, I'm Jamad Jama.

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VICTOR PALOMINO: Coming up, how accommodations in the polls for people living with disabilities benefit all of us. And, do we need to do homework to be an informed voter in the digital age?

BRITT AAMODT: This is North Star Stories: Voices from Where We Live, produced by AMPERS, Minnesota's Community Radio Stations, with support from the State of Minnesota. We'll be right back.

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[NSS Promo: "North Star Stories is produced by AMPERS, Minnesota's Community Radio Stations. Check out our other programs at AMPERS dot ORG: Minnesota Native News brings you weekly coverage of the state's Native American communities. MN90 - Minnesota History in 90 Seconds - transports you to historical moments in our state through short, engaging stories. Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine is a weekly podcast featuring conversations between Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe members and siblings, Leah Lemm and Cole Premo, and Native community members. Hear more at AMPERS dot ORG."]

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BRITT AAMODT: You are listening to North Star Stories. I'm Britt Aamodt.

VICTOR PALOMINO: And I'm Victor Palomino. About one in eight Minnesotans has a disability, according to American Community Survey estimates cited by Minnesota Compass. The actual number may be higher because the survey does not capture everyone with a disability. During election season, people with disabilities can face unique barriers to casting their ballots.

BRITT AAMODT: To learn more about voting accessibility, we're joined by David Fenley, the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, director at the Minnesota Council on Disability.
The council advises the governor, state agencies, the legislature, and the public on disability policy, rights, and accessibility laws. Thank you for joining us on Northstar Stories, David.

DAVID FENLEY: My pleasure.

BRITT AAMODT: What accommodations and assistance are available to help Minnesotans with disabilities vote this year whether they cast their ballot in person or from home?

DAVID FENLEY: The goal really is so everybody, no matter what their disability is, has the opportunity to vote. Whether that's early by mail, whether that's in person, whether it's curbside, which is something that has always been available for folks with disabilities but came more into the picture over the pandemic in 2020. If you do want to vote in person, there is an accessible voting machine there that primarily assist blind folks but really are good for all sorts of different types of disabilities. Polling locations are supposed to be held in accessible spaces. That's not always the case. We have thousands of polling sites across Minnesota run by volunteers who do a really good job to make sure that everybody can access the polls. Sometimes things fall through the cracks. One thing I like about Minnesota is that we assess what and where those cracks are, and we try to fix them in the next election, or even sometimes during the election, that it was found that maybe something's not accessible.

BRITT AAMODT: So you talked about the possibility of encountering an accessibility problem. So what if they do encounter one? What should they do?

DAVID FENLEY: There is a number that I think it's up and running now at the Secretary of State's website. To call and let them know about inaccessible voting places throughout Minnesota. Also, personal advocacy. One thing about folks with disabilities' rights is that it very much is a reactive enforcement environment, whereas we have to complain and then maybe something is done about it. But when it comes down to the wire, you know there's no disability parking. Let them know. Let them know that you know the entrance to get into the building is not an accessible entrance. "Well, is there another entrance that I should be going in that does not have a step up into it because I use a walker and I can't necessarily get into the building and I like to vote in person on election day." That personal advocacy a lot of times is the only route for folks with disabilities to enforce their rights, and that applies to the to the polls too.

BRITT AAMODT: What about transportation? What are—are there any options or thoughts about transportation and getting to the polls?

DAVID FENLEY: That is all volunteer driven. It's all organizations, nonprofits, and just community members. I have seen actually a few pop up specifically in the disability community around Minnesota, where it's if you need a ride to the poll, or if you want to volunteer giving people rides to the polls. So yes, but it's not something that's sponsored by any government entity that I know of, but I do know they exist, but they're more informal than formal.

BRITT AAMODT: What about actually casting that ballot? Can someone come into the ballot, you know, the, you know, space with you and help you cast that ballot if you need help?

DAVID FENLEY: That is a really good question. The answer is yes, and actually we had a recent law change, maybe like four or five years ago. My timeline might be off, but there was a law, rather antiquated law in Minnesota, that any particular person could only assist three folks legally. So, say you bring all your grandparents to the polls, you can only assist three of them. That law has been rescinded. A polling judge, a polling worker can assist someone if they need it, or you can bring in a family member to assist you. They can't vote for you, but you tell them what you want, and they put that down. Yes, they can. They can mark the ballot for you. You know, like anybody in the world. You know, we're not here alone. We're not doing it by ourselves ever. We are in the world with other humans, and we would not be here if it was not for our community members. And in our democracy, where voting is one of the few ways that we can interact with our government, folks with disabilities have that right, just like everybody else.

BRITT AAMODT: Your council, are you available during this time period? How do you fill in some of the gaps?

DAVID FENLEY: That's a really good question, and I'd like to say that we have more sort of wheels on the ground when it comes to this. We don't. We're an 11-person agency right now. A lot of the work that we do is beforehand to make sure that you know the Secretary of State's office understands what folks with disabilities' needs are. But as long as I've been working for this agency, so 12 years now, the Secretary of State's office has had a disability advisory committee where quarterly we meet, and every single thing we've ever suggested to them, they've made happen or done their best to make happen. Everything being reasonable, that is. So there is an ongoing conversation with the Secretary of State's office. There are other organizations like REV UP, which focuses on folks with disabilities and their rights to vote. We, I would say, meet about every other week in the run-up to the election to get information from the Secretary of State's office. So accessibility for some folks, or those folks, as folks like might like to say, will be accessibility for you someday.

BRITT AAMODT: It lets you know how universal what you do is. You know, it's applicable to everyone at some point.

DAVID FENLEY: You can thank folks with disabilities in the past when you are able to vote accessibly when you get older, or age, or acquire disability, and just the fact that they should vote if they want to, you know, your folk, your person with a disability, you still have the right to vote. You're under guardianship, you still have rights to vote, and nobody should be making that decision for you. There's a lot of paternalism in government, but also just in society in general, and how they view folks with disabilities. Where paternalism being, "I know better than you about your life because I'm not disabled." Essentially, that's what that is. And folks, you know, we've seen this in in the past too with specific disabilities, where you know people question, should you be voting? Well, I'm a human who happens to have Down syndrome, and yes, I should be voting just because you look at me and think that I'm different. Maybe shouldn't be deciding our democratic process. These are people who are making decisions about our lives. We should be voting.

BRITT AAMODT: I want to give you an opportunity. Are there any last thought that you want to share?

DAVID FENLEY: I would just say it's kind of cliche, but please vote. Like everybody should vote, no matter what your ability is.

BRITT AAMODT: Very good way to end it. Thank you so much, David.

DAVID FENLEY: My pleasure.

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BRITT AAMODT: The way we access news and information has changed over the past few decades. From newspapers, radio, and television to websites, social media, and mobile apps, we have more ways than ever to follow what's happening in the world. But with so much information at our fingertips, how can we recognize what is information and what is not?

VICTOR PALOMINO: To explore these questions, we're joined now by Emily Vraga, a professor in the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota. Her research focuses on how individuals respond to news and information about contentious health, scientific, and political issues. Thank you for coming to North Star Stories.

Professor Vraga, thank you for coming to North Star Stories.

EMILY VRAGA: Thank you for having me.

VICTOR PALOMINO: To start, what is the difference between misinformation and disinformation?

EMILY VRAGA: So, misinformation is just getting something wrong. It means that it doesn't align with what we know to be true or the best evidence that we have, because in some cases we can't be entirely certain, and so it's just kind of is this true or not. It doesn't matter intent when you're thinking about misinformation. What disinformation adds is that layer of intent, knowing that what you say is false and saying it anyway. Misinformation is a mistake. Disinformation is a lie.

VICTOR PALOMINO: We're approaching the midterms, and voters are seeing a lot of ads. And if you're online, if you're on radio, if you're on TV, what should people pay attention to know that the claims that the ads are having are valid or not?

EMILY VRAGA: We have really strong First Amendment protections for political speech in this country, which also means that the veracity of claims made in political advertisements is not checked, and so you're allowed to make misstatements. You're allowed to not tell the whole truth is part of your political advertisements, and so you should know that as you're going into an advertisement that they don't have to be entirely truthful.

VICTOR PALOMINO: I've seen in recent weeks I'm getting mail that could be from a political candidate. It has the name and the picture of a political candidate, but what he's saying is it doesn't really seems like is in support of that candidate. So when I'm looking at those things, is there any writing? Is there anything that will give me an idea where it comes from and what its intention?

EMILY VRAGA: That's really tricky, especially when it comes through the mail, because it's not well regulated. It would be honestly pretty difficult to do that, and so this is where a Google search can really be one of your good friends trying to verify the information, seeing if it's affiliated with any center, for example, rather than a political candidate, might help you figure out who's saying this and why they might be saying it.

VICTOR PALOMINO: We're in an era of technology that is going beyond what we can understand, and artificial intelligence and these technologies. How do you see that this is affecting the communication during these election times?

EMILY VRAGA: Artificial intelligence can be a really helpful thing, but it also can make a lot of mistakes. We're still at a stage where it can misunderstand or misrepresent the truth. We know, for example, that news summaries, AI-generated news summaries, aren't always accurate, and so it really is important that when the information matters to you when you really want to get it right, you should go to the original source material or go to a trusted authority to try to check that information rather than just relying on an AI generated summary that can make mistakes.

VICTOR PALOMINO: This is not only applied to elections. I mean, we, six years ago, we were in the middle of a pandemic where a lot of information was all over the place, and for many people it was hard to find like the a real source. So this is a recommendation from, for everything, I guess. I mean, it's like as consumers of news and of information, we are in a time where we have to do a lot of homework.

EMILY VRAGA: That's correct, and that's why it's really important to really think through who are those trusted sources for a particular domain. The state of Minnesota does a really good job of having really rich voter guides, voter materials, support for people in a lot of different languages. And so I feel really lucky that the state of Minnesota is a really great resource when it comes to election-related information.

VICTOR PALOMINO: From your perspective, how do you see the future of transparency in elections and in communications in general in media?

EMILY VRAGA: Transparency is critical. Especially when it is really hard sometimes to know where our information is coming from, that reinforces how important it is to be transparent to talk about why this information is valid, the kinds of fact checking that went into it to make sure that we're upholding these high standards and disclosing if there are any political motivations behind sharing the information. And I think we as consumers can demand that with our choices. If there is an information source that is not upholding those standards, we should be looking elsewhere, or we should be writing in and demanding, "Hey, I want to make sure that this is the quality of information I expect, and if it's not, I'll go elsewhere."

VICTOR PALOMINO: Do you think that people are getting tired and just like disconnecting and saying like, you know, I'm not gonna pay attention to the news. I'm not gonna engage because this is just too much.

EMILY VRAGA: Definitely, definitely. We know that news fatigue is a real thing. That many people are expressing exactly that: that it is hard to keep up, it is hard to know what's true and what's false. And actually, when we go back to disinformation, it's worth stressing that their primary goal, of course, is to persuade. But a really strong secondary goal that is almost as good for them is to create disorientation-a sense of "I really can't figure out what's true and false." And that leads into this kind of news fatigue, this information fatigue. If I can't tell anyway, I'm not going to bother and I'm going to opt out.

VICTOR PALOMINO: Do you have anything else you want to add to the conversation of any recommendation from our listeners of places to go and where to find some room in between all this misinformation and information that they get?

EMILY VRAGA: So I think one thing that's important to remember is that a lot of the misinformation and disinformation that we see during an election cycle is repeated. It's something that we see every election cycle. It comes over and over again, and so there's a lot of common tropes that we can be familiar with and recognize and say, "Oh, this is something that kind of gets trotted out every time we have an election, and therefore I can be skeptical of it, without necessarily having to fact check it each time." It's always good to verify. It's not to say that mistakes can't happen during elections, but some of these common claims are things that have been debunked over and over and over again.

VICTOR PALOMINO: Thank you so much for coming to North Star Stories and sharing this information with our listeners.

EMILY VRAGA: Thank you for having me.

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VICTOR PALOMINO: This is it for today's program. If you missed any part of today's newscast, you can find this and past episodes at AMPERS dot org or listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can also get North Star Stories Daily on our website or check your favorite station's schedule.

BRITT AAMODT: Thanks for listening, and we'll be back next week with more stories and voices from the North Star State.

OUTRO: North Star Stories is produced by AMPERS, Minnesota's community radio stations with support from the state of Minnesota. Online at ampers.org.