News Room

SAINT PAUL — On Monday, June 2, 2025, Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon awarded the first three recipients of the statewide Excellence in Elections Award. The award honors election workers for their outstanding service to the State of Minnesota.

Secretary Simon presented the Excellence in Election Award to Helen Burgstaler, who has served as an election judge in Crow Wing County for 75 years; Debby Erickson, Crow Wing County Administrator; and, Kathy Toensing, Crow Wing County Operations Support Supervisor and Elections Supervisor.

“Minnesota is widely known as a leader in election administration, carefully balancing access to the polls with election security,” said Minnesota Secretary of Steve Simon. “An outstanding example of this is the excellent work happening in Crow Wing County where they have robust resources, excellent training, and conscientious and ethical people who are committed to running free, fair, secure, and accurate elections.”

Download photos from the June 2 event.

About the Honorees

Helen Burgstaler is a lifelong resident of Crow Wing County and has served as an election judge for 75 years, making her the county’s longest serving election judge. Helen first served as an election judge in 1950 when she was 18 years old. She has continued her service through out the years in presidential, local, state, and primary elections.

Debby Erickson has 31 years of service to Crow Wing County beginning in the county assessor’s office. She as served the as the Deputy County Auditor, County Auditor and Auditor-Treasurer, Administrative Services Director, and in 2024 was unanimously approved by the County Board of Commissioners as the County Administrator. Debby has honed an expertise in election administration in multiple roles including as an elected auditor prior to her appointment as administrative services director.

Debby is looked to as an expert in election administration by her colleagues in Minnesota and across the country. She currently serves as the president of the Minnesota Association of Auditors, Treasurers and Finance Officers, 1st Vice-President of the Minnesota Association of County Officers and is the chair of the MACO elections committee for the counties at the state legislature as well as a statewide trainer on election issues. She serves as the Minnesota local government representative on the federal Elections Assistance Commission Standards Board and is the local government Standards Board representative on the federal Government Coordinating Council for elections critical infrastructure.

Debby is a certified Minnesota elections administrator and received her BA in management with honors from the College of St. Scholastica.

Kathy Toensing started working at Crow Wing County in February 2006 and is the Operations Support Supervisor and Elections Supervisor. County leaders attribute their successful elections to her countless hours of service and tireless dedication. Kathy works behind the scenes to review ballot configurations, create test decks for public testing, set up for public testing, election judge scheduling, equipment setup, ballot board coordination, supply coordination for precincts and Poll Pad configurations.