Calls for armed guards, 'Army for Trump' volunteers vex Minnesota election officials
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October 22, 2020
RICHARD TSONG-TAATARII – Star Tribune
Kilray Beaumont, 59, dropped off absentee ballot requests as well as ballots from his assisted-living complex at the Minneapolis early voting center Tuesday.
Calls for armed military veterans combined with a volunteer "Army for Trump" to descend on Minnesota polling places have created fresh anxieties for state law enforcement and elections officials already preparing for a major election in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cybersecurity and the coronavirus pandemic dominated preparations for the vote this year, but state and federal officials are now closely monitoring new reports of private security contractors advertising jobs that would - illegally - dispatch armed guards at Minnesota polling places.
Adding to those concerns, the Trump campaign has vowed to raise a 50,000-plus army of volunteer observers across an array of battleground states to monitor the voting. Raising fears of elections he says will be rigged, President Donald Trump, trailing in polls in Minnesota and other key battleground states, has called on his supporters to "go into the polls and watch very carefully, because that's what has to happen."
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