Early voting tumbles ahead of Minnesota's primary Tuesday

Minnesota primaries offer mix of intrigue

Minnesota primaries are set for Aug. 9, but early voting turnout expectations have so far been low in many key races. FOX 9’s Theo Keith has the latest.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - The surge of Minnesotans voting early in 2020 turned out to be a one-time event.

Absentee voting has tumbled ahead of Tuesday's primary back to 2018 levels. As of 10 a.m. Monday, election officials had accepted 128,872 mail and in-person absentee ballots out of 263,795 requested. At this point in the 2020 primary, 423,032 ballots had been accepted out of 637,463 requested.

Early voting spiked in 2020 thanks to a combination of political enthusiasm and an interest in avoiding public places during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Now that we’re not in that same position anymore, we have a vaccine, we have different protocols, my gut tells me it’s mostly a result of being in a different place with COVID-19, that we’re not going to see as many people wanting to vote from home," said Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat who is running for re-election this fall but does not face a competitive primary.

Count Minnesota's top election official as one who prefers voting in-person on the day of the election. 

Simon said he'll vote Tuesday as he traditionally did before the pandemic.