Minnesota early in-person voting begins
Early voting begins in Minnesota
Early in-person voting has started in Minnesota. FOX 9's Maury Glover caught up with some early voters in St. Louis Park.
ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. (FOX 9) - Minnesota’s new in-person early voting option drew a quick response from voters in St. Louis Park on Friday.
Early voting in Minnesota
What we know:
Some voters in St. Louis Park said they wanted to cast a ballot early instead of waiting for a single day.
"Get it out of the way. We're going to be gone. Not trusting the mail-in process," said Karl Fraasch, a St. Louis Park resident.
City officials in St. Louis Park said about 400 people used in-person early voting on Friday. That compared with about 100 people a day for in-person absentee voting.
"I wanted to miss the crowd that I would encounter on election day. I know who I want to vote for. It wasn't going to change between now and election day, and it will be less crowded," said Irving Thorne, a St. Louis Park resident.
By the numbers:
A new state law requires every county to have at least one location for in-person early voting. At those sites, residents fill out a short certificate, receive a ballot and then put it straight into a ballot counter, just like on Election Day.
That process is different from in-person absentee voting, where voters fill out a longer form and put their ballot in a series of envelopes to be reviewed by election officials later.
"They like the option to be able to vote early, to have a couple of weeks where they can vote at whatever time and date is more convenient for them," said Paul Linnell, director of elections for the Minnesota Secretary of State's Office.
As of Friday morning, more than 200,000 ballots had been cast for the upcoming election, according to the Secretary of State's Office. Linnell said Election Day voting at the polling place has remained the top option, but this year could test that.
"The reports so far have been successful administration and successful turnout for the first day of early voting and looking forward to that to continue all the way right until and then through election day." said Linnell.
What they're saying:
Voters in St. Louis Park said they would like to keep the option in the future.
"Anything can come up if I'm waiting until that single day. If I'm at work late, if I have plans excuses could come up. I have all these different days that I can have it on my schedule or not and just get it done," said Fraasch.