Polls open Tuesday for primary, special election races
MINNEAPOLIS -- Are you ready to have your voice be heard? Primary election day is Tuesday in Minnesota and polls are open.
Polling places will be open until 8 p.m. If you are in line when polling places close, you will be allowed to vote.
There are quite a few races to watch this year, including Minnesota attorney general, sheriff for Hennepin County, and several Minnesota congressional seats. On Sunday, WCCO previewed the important races with bipartisan elections experts.
RELATED: Click here to see which Minnesota primary races are on your ballot
This is all in preparation for the general election taking place on the second Tuesday in November. This year, it's Nov. 8.
Nearly 129,000 Minnesotans had voted early as of Monday morning. That's a dramatic drop-off from the 2020 presidential election year during the height of the pandemic. That year, 543,000 Minnesota voters cast early primary ballots.
August primary turnout in Minnesota has historically been low, ranging from 7% in 2016 to 22% in 2020.
"This has been a lower voter turnout primary than we have had in recent years, so we will have more people voting tomorrow than we did vote early, but compared to other years it will probably be a little lower," Minneapolis elections administrator Jeff Narabrook said.
Pandemic rules have been rolled back. Unlike 2020, postmarks don't count. Absentee ballots have to be in by 3 p.m. Tuesday, and you can only drop it off at a designated site.
"If you are not able to drop it off in person and you haven't returned it you can just go to your polling place to vote instead and don't bring that mail ballot with you," Narabrook said.
Every 10 years, district boundaries change because of the census. That's why your polling place and even the offices you vote for can be different. You can find your polling place and a sample ballot online or by calling 311.
As for results, Hennepin County is often the fastest to report, and likely will be again.
"We do use wireless transmission, secure wireless transmission of results on election night to make that a bit faster than can be achieved through other ways of reporting results," Hennepin County elections manager Ginny Gelms said.
As for more rural areas, they often report later. Many of them are still driving ballots to their election headquarters