By Logan Wells, News Director | Logan@kymnradio.net
With just 8 days until election day, early voting has changed the election nationwide. According to The New York Times it is currently estimated that more than 34 million people voted early or by mail this election so far. Early voting has been open for over 5 weeks now in Minnesota and on Thursday, the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office reported 565,000 votes had been cast by mail across the state. Secretary of State Steve Simon says early indications show early voting and absentee ballots are rolling in at a quicker pace:
“We are more than double at the pace of early voting and absentee voting now than we were eight years ago during the election of 2016. I mention that election because the one four years ago was not the best comparison point. It was COVID and so there were a lot more people relying on voting by mail.” – Minnesota Sectary of State Steve Simon
In Minnesota 878,000 absentee ballots have been requested meaning that about 300,000 ballots have yet to be mailed back to local elections officials. Simon encouraged voters planning to vote by mail to turn in their ballots soon. For voters who voted by mail you can track the status of your ballot at mnvotes.gov/track
In Northfield, early voting has been active as well, all Minnesotans can vote by mail but any resident can of Rice County also vote early at the Northfield City Hall. According to a statement given to KYMN Radio by the Northfield City Clerk Lynette Peterson, 2,462 votes have been processed by the city as of Noon on Friday. This means the city has been averaging about 200 early votes a day. 1,984 or 80% of the total votes cast came from residents who live in Northfield, the remaining 20% came from the rest of Rice County. The vast majority of early voting in Northfield has been done by mail.
If you live in Rice County or the Northfield portion of Dakota County early voting remains available in city hall during regular business hours and will be open on Saturday and Sunday as well.
You can learn more about early voting by going to mnvotes.gov or about voting early in Northfield here.
