News Room

SAINT PAUL – In the first five weeks of voting, local election officials have distributed 878,931 absentee and mail ballots in Minnesota. County, city, and township election officials have accepted 565,909 ballots. The Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State will update absentee voting statistics again on October 31 and November 4.

Nearly 300,000 ballots have not yet been returned. Minnesotans are encouraged to return their ballots to their local election office as soon as possible by mail or in-person to ensure their vote is counted. All ballots must be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day to be counted. Minnesotans can track their ballot at mnvotes.gov/track.

“More than half a million Minnesotans have already made their voices heard in this Election,” said Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon. “Election Day is just around the corner, if you haven’t already voted now is the time to make your plan to vote.”

To be eligible to vote, a person must be 18 or older by Election Day, a U.S. Citizen, a resident of Minnesota for at least 20 days, not currently incarcerated for a felony conviction, and not under a court order that revokes your right to vote.

The deadline to register to vote before Election Day was Tuesday, October 15. Minnesotans can still register to vote on Election Day, if needed.

Minnesotans can choose to vote in one of three ways:

1. By Mail: Minnesotans can vote by mail by requesting a ballot at mnvotes.gov/absentee starting September 20. About 150,000 Minnesotans live in mail ballot precincts and will be mailed a ballot automatically if they are registered to vote. Ballots must be received by local election offices by 8 p.m. on Election Day to be counted. Voters can track their ballot at mnvotes.gov/track.
   
   
2. Early In-Person: Minnesotans can vote absentee in person at their local election office during business hours between September 20 and November 4. There are also special early voting hours during the 2024 General Election:
   • Saturday, October 26 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
   • Tuesday, October 29 open until 7 p.m.
   • Saturday, November 2 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
   • Sunday, November 3 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
   • Monday, November 4 open until 5 p.m.
     
     
3. In-Person on Election Day: Minnesotans can vote in-person at their local polling place on Tuesday, November 5. Find a polling place at mnvotes.gov/pollfinder. All polling places are open until 8 p.m. As long as voters are in line to vote by 8 p.m. they can vote. In Minnesota, people can register to vote on election day.

Text or Call with Election Questions

This week, the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State launched a new text messaging service to answer questions from voters. Voters can text their election related questions to 651-217-3862 and will get answers from an election worker. The service builds off the election call center which is available at 1-877-600-VOTE (8683).

Texts and calls will be answered from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and during the expanded early voting hours on:

• Saturday, October 26 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Tuesday, October 29 from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m.
• Saturday, November 2 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Sunday, November 3 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Monday, November 4 from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.