By Nathan Sommer
Murphy News Service
Absentee voting has officially opened across the state for the Nov. 4 general election, and for the first time, registered voters are not required to provide a reason for voting early.
A press release from the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie said voters have the option to vote prior to November 3 in person at their local election office or online, where they can submit a request to have their ballot mailed to them. Voters also have the choice to download their ballot at home and submit it via mail, email, fax or personal delivery.
“We all have busy schedules that can make it a challenge to get to the polling place on Election Day,” said Ritchie. “Now there is a clear path for eligible voters to use an absentee ballot to cast their ballot early and on their own schedule.”
In order to request a ballot online, voters must visit mnvotes.org. This website serves as the online hub of voter tools for the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State and is intended to allow registered voters to apply for their absentee ballots efficiently without having to print or scan documents and then return them via mail, fax or email.
Once a request has been submitted, voters can track the status of their absentee ballot on the “Absentee & Mail Ballot Lookup” section of the Secretary of State’s website (www.sos.state.mn.us). Here they can find out if and when their ballot has been mailed to them and if their completed ballot has been received and accepted by their local or county elections office.
Registered absentee voters have until Monday, November 3 to vote in person at their local polling place. This will also be the day that those who requested to vote early by mail will receive their ballot.
The Office of the Minnesota Secretary of the State says 8,023 eligible voters have been successfully registered to vote or have updated their information since the online voting tool was introduced at mnvotes.org in September 2013 and that 598 additional absentee ballot requests are currently being processed.
For any further questions or additional information, Minneapolis residents can contact the city’s elections department at 612-673-2070 or contact them via email at [email protected].
Nathan Sommer is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.