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Voters can cast early ballots for Aug. 11 primary

Subhead
Statewide and Rock County election leaders see spike in absentee ballot requests this year
By
Lori Sorenson

Early absentee voting began Friday for the Aug. 11 primary election in Minnesota, and by law any eligible Minnesotan can vote early by mail or in person, but mail ballots are encouraged to minimize contact during the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office, more than 207,000 residents requested no-excuse absentee ballots as of Friday, up from roughly 8,000 at this time in 2018.
In Rock County, more than 100 voters had requested mail ballots as of Monday, according to Auditor Treasurer Ashley Kurtz.
“We had a whole stack of applications last week, even before we got ballots in our office,” she said.
For a normal primary election, Kurtz said her office would typically have only a handful of absentee ballot requests this far head of the election.
“There’s a lot going on in the world,” she said about elections amid a pandemic.
“Even though the president isn’t on this ballot, there’s more interest in voting.”
Costly electronic voting equipment and difficulty in finding election judges has prompted many of Rock County’s rural precincts to switch to mail ballot elections.
As it is, 200 Rock County residents receive mail ballots to vote.
“That’s almost half our voters,” Kurtz said. “And that number will be significantly higher with absentee requests. … I think our mail ballot voting will far exceed our in-person voting this election year.”
Despite misinformation about the security of mail-ballot voting, Kurtz said mail ballots are in many ways more secure than ballot-booth voting.
“When a voter registers to vote, the information from the voter registration is verified against different databases.” She said.
“We can't mail a ballot to a voter until those verifications are met, therefore ballots can only be mailed to qualified voters. And by signing the envelope, the voter is accepting the oath in the same way they would by signing a roster at the polling place.”
She said ballots are also sent by non-forwardable mail, so a person can't have a registered voter address somewhere different than where they are living.
 “If it fails, it will come back to us,” Kurtz said. “Absentee ballots are checked beforehand; if there are issues at the ballot booth, we find out about them after the election.”
Kurtz said her office is encouraging voters to request absentee ballots online, but if they’d like to pick theirs up at the courthouse, they should call ahead for an appointment.
 
How do mail ballots work?
Rock County residents can vote early in person through Aug. 10 at the courthouse in Luverne, where pandemic precautions will be observed.
Minnesotans have until July 21 to register ahead of the primary, but if they miss that deadline, they can provide proof of residence at an in-person voting location on Election Day.
Normally, mail ballot voters are required to have a witness sign for them, but due to the pandemic, that requirement is being waived. Voters who are not registered will still need a witness to indicate proof of residence.
Mail ballots must be postmarked on or before Aug. 11, Primary Election Day, and voters can track the status of their ballots through the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office to confirm it was received and counted.
Unlike in the presidential primary, voters do not have to choose a political party in order to receive a ballot, but once they get their ballots, they must vote for candidates in only one political party.
A person’s party preference in the August primary is not recorded or public.
In the event of an error on the absentee ballots, the state will send a new ballot to voters if they didn’t fill it out properly the first time, or they can request a new ballot if they accidentally marked the wrong candidate or change their mind.
 
What’s on my ballot?
Primary elections determine which federal, state and local candidates will appear on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.
Minnesotans can view their sample ballots on the Secretary of State’s website, sos.state.mn.us, where they can also request early absentee ballots be mailed to their homes.
Local primary ballots contain candidates for state senate and U.S. senate, in addition to county commissioners, soil and water district supervisors and Luverne city offices.
See the Star Herald coverage of those filings at www.star-herald.com.
The filing period for other municipal and school district offices that don’t hold primaries will be July 28 through Tuesday, Aug. 11.
Voting information can be found on the Secretary of State’s website, or by calling the Rock County Auditor-Treasurer’s Office, 507-283-5060.

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