Under Minn. Stat. § 383B.102(c)(3) and the County’s policy on Open and Unclassified Service Appointments, the county board approves appointments of personnel in the unclassified service.

Following an extensive internal recruitment process, the County Administrator is recommending Ginny (Virginia) Gelms be appointed as the Director of Elections, effective 8/28/2022.

This director position will play a critical role in shaping the future of the Elections department in the planning and managing of all election activities in Hennepin County and its over 1 million voting age residents. The Director will design, develop, evaluate and implement processes and procedures to ensure efficiency of operation and compliance with county policies, statutes, rules, regulations and legislative changes. This position will report to the Assistant County Administrator of Resident Services.

From an organizational structure perspective, a Director of Elections will be well-positioned to work with external partners at state, metro, city, and department election meetings, including special state and metro advisory and user group meetings; participate in the development of election programs, policies, and procedures that are implemented at the local and state levels.

Ms. Gelms brings 16 years of elections administrative experience, 12 years of which were in management level positions. She has been the Hennepin County Elections Manager for nine years. Prior to that she served as Deputy Elections Manager for two years and Interim Elections Director for the City of Minneapolis for one year. She has also served as an Elections Technician in Minneapolis for two years and in Johnson County, Iowa for more than one year.

As the Hennepin County Elections Manager for the past nine years, Ms. Gelms has managed all County elections operational areas including election day operations, voter registration, absentee voting, voting technology, results reporting and certification, candidate filing, campaign finance reporting, recounts, local election clerk training, violation investigations, and data practices. Additionally, she has managed the county elections budget of up to $7.2 million, selecting program areas for investment that align with county goals and department strategic plans and ensuring responsible use of property tax dollars and grant funds. As the Interim City of Minneapolis Elections Director, she managed the elections budget of $1.2 million.

The Hennepin County Elections Manager role required strategic leadership in areas such as disparity reduction, risk management, cyber and physical security, counter-disinformation, and emergency planning and Ms. Gelms led major improvement implementations, including no-excuse absentee voting, centralized mail absentee voting, electronic poll books, and elections pandemic response.

Additionally, Ms. Gelms implemented the county's first ever voter engagement program, whose mission includes reducing barriers to voting for voters from racially diverse communities that have been historically marginalized. Innovative strategies were used to meet voters where they are, including working with culturally specific community groups and providing election materials in multiple languages. Under her leadership, the elections team has become more racially diverse at both the professional and seasonal position level. Ms. Gelms has also supported multiple elections division staffers’ training to become Racial Equity and Inclusion Tool Champions and they are now implementing that tool in various elections division programs.

Ms. Gelms received a BA in English and Linguistics from Northwestern University and a Certificate in Election Administration from the University of Minnesota, Humphrey School of Public Affairs. In 2010, she received the Election Center Professional Practices Guardian Award in recognition of election principles and standards. In the 2020 Presidential Election, under Ms. Gelms’ leadership, Hennepin County achieved the most voter registrations and highest voter turnout in county history.

As required by the Open and Unclassified Service Appointments Policy, a list of final applicants who interviewed for this position is on file with the Clerk of the County Board.

Current Request: The County Administrator requests the board approve the appointment of Ginny Gelms as the Director of Elections, effective 8/28/2022.