Election Day: What to know about federal election monitors

Now, election day. It's finally here. The polls open in less than an hour. Voters have some important decisions to make. And when voters go to cast their ballots, federal election monitors will be closely watching the process. Bill Keller is live in Minneapolis with more on what we as voters can expect today. Bill, good morning. Good morning, guys. In fact, we're seeing election workers here putting the finishing touches on getting ready for the polls to open in less than an hour. When that happens, election monitors will be here. That is nothing new. But the scale of what is going to be going on here, this oversight is really larger than ever before. The Trump administration ordering the DOJ to deploy 1,000 election monitors to states across the country, and that includes right here in Minnesota. Most voters won't even be aware, but there will be Five or six two-person teams in Hennepin County with an additional four or five teams in Ramsey County. Now for the do's and don'ts. They cannot come within 100 feet of polling places. Monitors are not allowed to talk to voters on their way in. Now they can approach voters on their way out, although you're not required to answer any questions or talk to them if you don't want. In response, the Secretary of State and the Attorney General's office, they're going to deploy local observers as well to make sure that those federal monitors are following the law, something that has happened before, in fact, just during the August primary. We anticipate that this will be very much like what we experienced in the primary. Thank you very much. And again, I want to give credit where it's due. We had a good dialogue and relationship with them. They let us know where we're going to be. They made every effort to follow all the rules and laws. Now the polls open in less than an hour at 7 o'clock. They'll remain open until 8 p.m. And as long as you're in line by 8, you can still cast your ballot in person. You can find your polling place or check out a sample ballot on the Minnesota Secretary of State's website. If you're not registered, you can still do that right at the polls. Just be sure you've got the proper ID, your proof of residency, or a registered voter who can vouch for you. Now, even before early voting ended yesterday, the Secretary of State says more than 886,000 ballots had already been accepted. That is a new Minnesota record for a non-presidential election year. More than 619,000 of those were cast in person. 266,000 cast by mail right here in Minneapolis. Nearly a third of all registered voters have already done it. They've already put in their ballot. That is up nearly 65% since 2022. But that still leaves 190,000 voters that could turn out in person here on Election Day. Back to you guys. All right. Bill Keller for us there. It's already getting busy. Thank you.