News Room

SAINT PAUL — Today, Secretary of State Steve Simon is encouraging Minnesotans to “make their voices heard” and vote in the Primary Election on Tuesday, August 9, which will determine what candidates appear on the ballot in the General Election on November 8.

“As I travel the state I always tell Minnesotans that your vote is your voice, and to never give that up,” said Secretary Simon. “I encourage all eligible voters to make their voices heard in the August 9 Primary Election. Minnesotans can find out where they vote, what’s on their ballot, and what to bring to the polls at mnvotes.org.”

GET READY TO VOTE AT MNVOTES.ORG

• Minnesotans can find out where they vote using the “Polling Place Finder” tool.
• Minnesotans can view their sample ballot using the “My Ballot” tool.
• Remember: Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. As long as you’re in line by 8 p.m., you can vote.

In Minnesota partisan primary elections, voters do not need to publically declare affiliation with a party — they are free to vote for any one political party on the ballot. However, voting for candidates from more than one party voids all votes in the party portion of the ballot.

The front of the ballot will have a column for each major political party and their candidates. The backside will include nonpartisan races for local and judicial candidates that are not affiliated with political parties. For these races, voters can choose any candidate — and in some cases multiple candidates — in as many races as they prefer. Primary ballots do not allow for write-in votes.

For the August 9 primary, every precinct in the state will have a primary election with at least the Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Seat 6 race on the ballot. All congressional districts, except congressional districts 3 and 8, will also have a primary race on the ballot.

VOTING ABSENTEE BY MAIL OR IN-PERSON

• Voting Absentee by Mail: Minnesotans voting absentee by mail must make sure their ballot is returned on or before the August 9 Primary Election. Ballots returned after August 9 will not be counted.
  
  Minnesotans can also return their ballot in person no later than 3 p.m. on Election Day to the election office that sent them their ballot. Minnesotans can drop off ballots for up to three other voters.
  
  
• Voting Absentee In-Person: The last day to vote absentee in-person is Monday, August 8. Minnesotans can vote absentee in-person at their county election office and at some cities and towns.

Voters may check the status of their ballot, such as when it was mailed, and if their completed ballot was received and accepted by their local elections office.

To date, 102,856 absentee ballots, including mail-ballot only precincts, have been sent to eligible voters and 28,487 have been accepted. At the same time in 2014, 78,842 absentee ballots, including mail-ballot only precincts, had been sent out to eligible voters and 27,273 had been accepted.

###