Private Security Company Seeking Armed Veterans to Guard Minnesota Polling Sites

A private security company is seeking armed veterans to guard Minnesota polling sites against left-wing activists on Election Day.

The recruiting effort is being conducted by Tennessee-based company Atlas Aegis, which was formed last year and is an entirely military-veteran run organization, according to its website.

Anthony Caudle, the company chairman, posted a listing through a defense industry job site this week seeking former Special Operations forces to staff “security positions in Minnesota during the November Election and beyond to protect election polls, local businesses, and residences from looting and destruction.”

According to the job advertisement, the positions will last “well beyond the elections” with 15 to 30 hours of work a week and a salary and per diem reimbursement of $910 a day. Special Operations forces experience is required for the positions.

Caudle said in an interview with the Washington Post this week that he is planning to deploy a “large contingent” to Minnesota but did not specify how many people he would send.

Democrat Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said Friday that he and other elections officials “strongly” discouraged “this unnecessary interference in Minnesota’s elections, which we have not asked for and do not welcome.”

“Federal law and state law are both clear: No one may interfere with or intimidate a voter at a polling place,” he said. “The presence of armed outside contractors at polling places would constitute intimidation and violate the law. I request this company cease and desist any planning and stop making any statements about engaging in this activity.”

Minnesota election laws bar private security or other related groups or individuals from entering polling places, Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon told the Star Tribune Friday.

“We are actively working with state and federal law enforcement to ensure that these laws are strictly enforced, as they always have been,” Simon told the Tribune.

“In addition, our 30,000 election judges at nearly 3,000 polling places are well-trained on those laws. Any outside effort to supplement election judges or local law enforcement is counterproductive, unwelcome, and possibly unlawful,” he added.