MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon said election night on Tuesday will look different than past primaries.
"So we probably aren't going to have all of the results on election night. But we'll have substantially all of them. We'll have all of the in-person results; we'll have all the absentee results that are already in," Simon said. "And I just want to stress, that's no one's fault. It's not because someone screwed up. That is by design."
Counties and cities have an extra two days to count ballots and some will trickle in after Tuesday night. Ballots need to be postmarked by August 11 and received by August 13 in order to count.
"There's always a possibility that some of these contests, if they're quite close, won't be settled for a couple days later until Thursday," Simon said.
If someone has an absentee ballot they have not mailed in yet, Simon would not recommend mailing it at this point.
"I really wouldn't. It depends on your tolerance for risk. It has to get there, it has to be postmarked by Tuesday, Election Day, and get there by Thursday. If you're confident in the U.S. mail, that that can happen, then you should do that. If you're not confident or you think there's a chance that won't happen, I wouldn't do it. You can have it dropped off or you yourself can drop it off at the place where it's supposed to go," Simon explained.
There are other options, as well, including in-person absentee voting on Monday and in-person voting on Election Day.
Simon said they have taken precautions to make polling places as safe as possible. They have purchased and distributed supplies and personal protective equipment to all 3,000 polling places in Minnesota.
"We're going to have high-grade, almost surgical-grade, masks for all the poll workers. We're going to have more disposable-type masks for voters who don't bring one although I recommend that you do," Simon said.
They'll also have hand sanitizer, wipes and will be cleaning every polling surface after a voter uses it.
As of Friday, about 625,000 Minnesotans so far had ordered an absentee ballot. About 375,000 ballots had been received and accepted.
"That's a really, really big number before the election and all of these numbers are multiples of what they were two years ago and four years ago," Simon said.
Voters who have already sent in their ballots, can track them here.
If you're planning on voting by mail for the general election, Secretary Simon recommends requesting it online sooner rather than later. You can always change your mind and vote in person, if you like.
You can find more voting information, here.
