Early voting and mail-in voting starts tomorrow
Last week, St. John’s announced a “souls to the polls” initiative. Because of COVID-19, election night will look and feel different – it will be more of an election “season.” The Minnesota legislature and courts literally designed the process to not have immediate results so Minnesotans could have many options to vote safely. If you want to vote by mail, you can request a ballot online; ballots for the general election should start being mailed to voters tomorrow, September 18. Early in-person voting starts tomorrow, too; find out locations and hours here. Minneapolis early voting will be at these locations.
Let’s work together to have 100% of St. John’s vote this year by following these tips:
- Order your ballot early. As soon as you’re ready to vote, vote.
- This year, there will be no witness requirement for mail-in ballots; just mail it.
- Your mail-in ballot must be postmarked by Tuesday 11/3; there’s an automatic 7 day cushion, so it must arrive by 11/10. We recommend getting your ballot in the mail by October 22. You also have the option to hand-deliver your ballot to the address on the envelope by 3 pm on Election Day.
- All ballots in Minnesota are treated as 1st class mail. Save your stamp!
- A Star Tribune’s voters’ guide appeared in the Sept. 18th edition and online, you can view it here.
- Your ballot will still be valid even if you don’t complete it. Don’t worry if you leave some of the “down ballot” choices blank.
- There’s a tool online to track the status of your absentee ballot. Detailed answers about absentee voting are here.
- Counties and cities normally get a seven day head start on counting – this year, there will be a 14 day head start. Voters must be notified under state law to give them a chance to correct their error.
- If you want to vote in person and can’t vote early, the general election will be held Tuesday, November 3rd. Polls will be open from 7 am to 8 pm.
Other resources:
MN’s Secretary of State ‘s voting portal is here; it includes a voter registration page.
Call Keith Ellison’s office with complaints about voter suppression; 651-296-3353.
The Episcopal Church has an Election Engagement Toolkit here.
