Alex Pretti memorials in Minnesota draw 'I Voted' stickers on Election Day

Minnesota voters left "I Voted" stickers at memorial sites for Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good on Election Day, the two US citizens killed by federal immigration officials earlier this year. The gesture came as grassroots organizers deployed trained volunteers to visit and monitor polling sites across the state.

Memorials and a personal response

Pretti, 37, was an intensive care unit nurse at the Veterans Affairs medical center in Minneapolis. Good was a writer and mother of three. Both were killed during a large-scale immigration enforcement operation in the Minneapolis region in January.

A retired physician who worked with Pretti, identified only by his first name, Arne, left his sticker at the memorial site. He described Pretti as a competent and well-liked nurse, and he became emotional when speaking about his vote and Pretti's death. Another voter, Mike F, who gave only his first initial for privacy reasons, left his sticker at Good's memorial. He said the act was a way of connecting his vote to what had happened in the city earlier this year.

Democracy guardians at the polls

The grassroots network behind the monitoring grew out of the rapid response work that community groups organized during Operation Metro Surge, the federal immigration campaign that drew officials to Minnesota in late 2025 and early 2026. Many of those groups have since turned their networks and de-escalation methods toward the midterm elections.

Groundwork Action is one of the organizations involved. It is working with local teams to train "democracy guardians" to visit polling places and watch for disturbances or federal interference with voters. Other participants include immigration defense groups and faith-based organizations. Wintana Melekin, Groundwork's executive director, said the group had trained more than 1,000 people ahead of the midterms.

Melekin said the aim was to ensure that Black voters and other citizens could cast ballots safely. "They are US citizens and eligible to vote, and we wanted to make sure they had the same access to the democracy as everyone else," she said.

Federal role in the election

The Trump administration said Justice Department election monitors would be deployed around the country. Threats that federal immigration officials could be sent to polling sites nationwide also circulated. Later, the Justice Department said neither the FBI nor Immigration and Customs Enforcement would serve as poll monitors, though other federal agents would.

Melekin said the group viewed those developments as a continuation of federal pressure seen in the region earlier this year. She said her organization was focused on building a system strong enough to protect voting access.

Voters in Minnesota are choosing a senator, a governor and US House candidates. Mass deportations have been a major issue in the midterm cycle nationally, and Tuesday's vote has widely been viewed as a verdict on the second Trump administration's immigration policies. Reports also described Houston Latino voters citing anger over ICE actions as a motivation at the polls, and Axios reported on "I Voted" stickers appearing at ICE-related memorials more broadly.

What we know so far

Minnesota's Election Day activity has centred on memorials for Pretti and Good and on monitoring efforts at polling sites statewide. The federal government's role at the polls remains a point of contention, and the results of the midterm races were not part of the reporting available at the time of writing.

Pretti's death and Good's death have drawn significant attention in Minnesota, and the people who gathered at the memorials said they wanted to honour them through their votes.