Minnesota Secretary Of State - What is my residence?
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What is my residence?


You will need to provide your residential address when registering to vote. Your residence is where your permanent home is located. This can be determined by the principles listed in Minnesota Statutes 200.031.

To vote in Minnesota, you must live in the state for at least 20 days before Election Day. If you have lived in Minnesota for fewer than 20 days before Election Day, you cannot vote in Minnesota for that election. If you are temporarily away from your Minnesota residence before an election, you can vote early.

For people in certain situations the residential address may be less clear. The links below will take you to additional information about these situations.


I'm a college student

You should register to vote from the address you currently consider home. For many students, this is likely a school address or a parent's house. If you still go back to visit your parents but no longer consider that your home, then you should register to vote where you live at school.

Read more about voting as a college student.

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I'm in the military or living abroad

You can have an absentee ballot emailed to you wherever you are in the world. Your ballot application also serves as a voter registration application and you do not need to register separately.

Read more about voting when you are in the military or living outside the U.S.

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I'm in a residential facility

If you live in a residential facility and you need to register to vote, you can register online, on paper, or a staff person can go with you to the polling place to confirm your address.

Read more about voting while you live in a residential facility.

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I'm living temporarily in Minnesota

You cannot vote in Minnesota if you are only living here temporarily. However, you can still vote in your home state's election with an absentee ballot.

To learn how to vote in your home state, visit Can I Vote? from the National Association of Secretaries of State.

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I'm homeless

If you are homeless, or do not have a stable address, you can register to vote using the location of where you sleep as your address. You may need to go to the polling place with someone (see details below) who can confirm where you are living. 

When you register to vote, you must provide your current residence. This is the place where you sleep, so if you sleep in a shelter, at a friend's house, or outside somewhere, that is your voting residence.

If you sleep outside, write a description of its location on line four of your voter registration application. For example, "In the NW corner of Jefferson Park near the intersection of Winston Ave. and Smith St."

Read more about your options for voting when you are experiencing homelessness.

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My home is in foreclosure

If your home is in foreclosure, you can use it as your voting residence as long as you still reside there.

If you move from the property and do not intend to return, you can no longer vote from that address. Instead, your voting residence will be the address of where you are currently staying, even if you are temporarily with family or friends. You will need to update your voter registration with your new address.

No one can legally challenge your voter registration simply because they know your house is in foreclosure. To legally challenge your registration, a challenger must personally know that you moved from the house and do not plan to come back.

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My home was destroyed

If you are displaced by a fire, flood or natural disaster, where you vote from depends on whether you intend to return to the home once it is made habitable again. 

I intend to return to my residence

You can continue to vote in person at the polling place assigned to you based on your home address. You can also vote early in person, or have the ballot mailed to your temporary address.

I do not intend to return to my residence

If you do not intend to return to the home after it is made habitable, then you can no longer vote from that address. In this case, you should register and vote from the location where you have been staying or from your new permanent address.

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