Minnesota voters leave stickers at memorial sites
Archived — this story has rotated out of today’s deck. It is kept here in full.
The gist
Minneapolis voters placed I Voted stickers at memorials for Renee Good and Alex Pretti on Election Day.
The gesture ties the midterm vote to anger over the immigration crackdown.
Background
Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three and writer, and Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Minneapolis, were both shot and killed by immigration officers in January during a large-scale enforcement operation the Trump administration called Operation Metro Surge. The killings drew public protests and rising disapproval of the administration's handling of immigration. President Donald Trump's mass deportation agenda was a key issue for voters in Tuesday's midterm elections, with control of the House and Senate at stake.
How it unfolded
- Jan 2026Renee Good and Alex Pretti are shot and killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge.
- Jan 8, 2026About a thousand people protest Good's killing in downtown Louisville.
- Oct 2026Pretti's family accuses the Justice Department of protecting the agents involved and withholding evidence; Good's family announces two civil lawsuits.
- Last weekPretti's parents hold a news conference urging federal leaders to share evidence in their son's shooting.
- Nov 3, 2026On Election Day, voters leave I Voted stickers at the memorials for Good and Pretti in Minneapolis; similar gestures are reported in Texas for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo.
Who’s saying what
- Public
- Voters who left stickers said they wanted to pay respects and attach their vote to what happened in the city this year.
- Public
- Minneapolis resident Peg Ihinger said she is glad people are fired up to vote and wants the nightmare to end for the city and country.
- Party
- Michael Pretti, Alex's father, demanded the government share evidence so prosecutors can hold the agents accountable and stop shielding Alex's killers.
- Analysts
- Political commentator Kaivan Shroff called the stickers a tribute of actions, not just words.
Still unverified
Good's family and her partner allege in a lawsuit that the operation was designed as a violent and discriminatory campaign targeting Minnesotans on the basis of race and national origin; the claim is asserted in the filing and has not been established.