Election administration in Minnesota

Election Information
Voter registration
Early voting
Absentee/mail-in voting
All-mail voting
Voter ID laws
State poll opening and closing times
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Election administration encompasses a state's voting policies and methods of enforcing them. These include voter identification requirements, early and absentee voting provisions, voter list maintenance methods, and more. Each state's voting policies dictate who can vote and under what conditions.

THE BASICS

Minnesota permits online voter registration.

Minnesota permits early voting and no-excuse absentee voting.

In Minnesota, polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Minnesota does not require identification to vote.

Minnesota holds open primary elections.

Minnesota has a tool for verifying voter registration.

Below, you will find details on the following election administration topics in Minnesota:

• Poll times
• Voter registration
• Early and absentee/mail-in voting policy
• Voter identification requirements
• Provisional ballot rules
• Primary election type
• Time off work for voting
• Voting rules for people convicted of a felony

• Voter list maintenance
• Post-election auditing
• Election policy ballot measures
• Election policy legislation
• Ballot access
• Redistricting
• Election administration agencies

Poll times

See also: State poll opening and closing times

In Minnesota, most polling places are open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Central Time. However, some smaller municipalities may open their polls as late as 10:00 a.m. An individual who is in line at the time polls close must be allowed to vote.

Voter registration

Check your voter registration status here.

Voter pre-registration is available in Minnesota beginning at age 16. An individual must be 18 years old on Election Day in order to vote. To register to vote in Minnesota, an individual must be a United States citizen who has resided in the state for the 20-day period preceding the election.

An individual must register to vote at least 21 days before Election Day or on Election Day at a polling place. An individual may register to vote by completing a registration application and submitting it by mail or in-person to a local election official. An individual can also register online. To register at a polling place on Election Day, an individual must present valid identification.

The Minnesota voter registration application includes an option to join a permanent absentee voter list, which means the voter will automatically be sent an absentee/mail-in ballot for every election.

Automatic registration

Minnesota practices automatic voter registration.

Automatic voter registration took effect on June 1, 2023, as a result of HF 3, which was signed into law by Governor Tim Walz (D) on May 5, 2023.

Online registration

See also: Online voter registration

Minnesota has implemented an online voter registration system. Residents can register to vote by visiting this website.

Same-day registration

Minnesota allows for same-day voter registration.

Residency requirements

To register to vote in Minnesota, you must be a resident of the state for at least 20 days.

Verification of citizenship

See also: Laws permitting noncitizens to vote in the United States

As of April 2023, Minnesota did not require proof of citizenship for voter registration.

Verifying your registration

The Minnesota Secretary of State allows residents to check their voter registration status online.

Early and absentee voting policy

Early voting

See also: Early voting

Minnesota permits early voting. Learn more by visiting this website.

Absentee voting

See also: Absentee voting

There are no eligibility requirements to vote absentee in Minnesota.

There is no specific deadline for applying for an absentee ballot. A completed ballot must be returned on or before Election Day for it to be counted.

Prospective voters may select an option on the Minnesota voter registration application to join a permanent absentee voter list, which means they will automatically be sent an absentee/mail-in ballot for every election.

Returning absentee ballots

See also: Mail ballot collection and return laws by state

Absentee ballots must be returned by election day. Ballots can be mailed to the voter’s local election office.

Ballots can also be returned in person no later than 8 p.m. on election day to the election office that sent the ballot.

According to state law, a "voter may designate an agent to deliver in person the sealed absentee ballot return envelope to the county auditor or municipal clerk or to deposit the return envelope in the mail."

Signature requirements and cure provisions

Minnesota has a cure provision, or a law providing for a process where election officials follow up with voters whose absentee ballots contain a signature discrepancy or lack the requisite signatures. "If a ballot is rejected more than 5 days before election day a replacement ballot is mailed; if rejected within 5 days, election officials must contact the voter via telephone or email to provide options for voting a replacement ballot," according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The voter can then request a replacement absentee ballot.

Was your absentee ballot counted?

Use the Absentee Ballot Search tool provided by the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office to check the status of your absentee ballot.

Voter identification requirements

See also: Voter ID in Minnesota

See also: Voter identification laws by state

Minnesota does not require registered voters to present identification while voting.

If you are registering to vote at the polls or have not voted in at least four years, you will need to bring proof of residency to the polls. Click here to see what qualifies as acceptable proof of residency.

Background

As of August 2023, 34 states required voters to present identification in order to vote at the polls on Election Day. Of these states, 23 required voters to present identification containing a photograph, and 11 accepted other forms of identification. The remaining 16 states did not require voters to present identification in order to vote at the polls on Election Day. Valid forms of identification differ by state. Commonly accepted forms include driver's licenses, state-issued identification cards, and military identification cards.

Provisional ballot rules

Minnesota does not have a provisional voting process.

Federal law requires most states to provide for a provisional balloting process (states that had enacted same-day voter registration processes as of 1993 were exempted from this requirement). As of September 2019, every state except Idaho, Minnesota, and New Hampshire had established a provisional voting process.

Local election officials

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Do you need information about elections in your area? Are you looking for your local election official? Click here to visit the U.S. Vote Foundation and use their election official lookup tool.

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Primary election type

See also: Primary elections in Minnesota

A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Minnesota utilizes an open primary system, in which registered voters do not have to be members of a party to vote in that party's primary.

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

Time off work for voting

In Minnesota, employees have the right to paid leave, so that they may, "...appear at the...polling place, cast a ballot, and return to work on the day of that election." Violations of this provision constitute a misdemeanor:

“

Subdivision 1. Right to be absent. Every employee who is eligible to vote in an election has the right to be absent from work for the time necessary to appear at the employee's polling place, cast a ballot, and return to work on the day of that election, without penalty or deduction from salary or wages because of the absence. An employer or other person may not directly or indirectly refuse, abridge, or interfere with this right or any other election right of an employee. Subd. 2. Elections covered. For purposes of this section, "election" means a regularly scheduled election, an election to fill a vacancy in the office of United States senator or United States representative, an election to fill a vacancy in nomination for a constitutional office, an election to fill a vacancy in the office of state senator or state representative, or a presidential nomination primary under chapter 207A. Subd. 3.Penalty. A person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor, and the county attorney shall prosecute the violation.

”

As of 2020, 28 states had laws requiring employers to provide time off for voting under certain conditions.

Voting rules for people convicted of a felony

See also: Voting rights for convicted felons

In Minnesota, voting rights are restored to people convicted of a felony upon completion of their prison sentence. On March 3, 2023, Governor Tim Walz (D) signed House File 28 into law, restoring voting rights to Minnesotans convicted of a felony that are still on parole, probation, or supervised release.

Voting rights for people convicted of a felony vary from state to state. In the majority of states, people convicted of a felony cannot vote while they are incarcerated but may regain the right to vote upon release from prison or at some point thereafter.

Voter list maintenance

All states have rules under which they maintain voter rolls—or, check and remove certain names from their lists of registered voters. Most states are subject to the parameters set by The National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). The NVRA requires states to make efforts to remove deceased individuals and individuals who have become ineligible due to a change of address. It prohibits removing registrants from voter lists within 90 days of a federal election due to change of address unless a registrant has requested to be removed, or from removing people from voter lists solely because they have not voted. The NVRA says that states may remove names from their registration lists under certain other circumstances and that their methods for removing names must be uniform and nondiscriminatory.

When names can be removed from the voter list

Minnesota law authorizes election officials to remove the names of voters from the registered voting list if an individual:

• requests in writing to be removed from the list
• dies
• is determined by a court to be “legally incompetent”
• is placed under “guardianship” and has their voting rights revoked by a court order
• is convicted of a felony.

Inactive voter list rules

If any nonforwardable mail to a registered voter from an election official is returned as undeliverable with a permanent forwarding address within the state, Minnesota law requires the county auditor to place the voter on an inactive voter list. If the mail is returned as undeliverable with a permanent forwarding address outside the state, the county auditor is to send a notice to the forwardable address. If the voter fails to respond within 21 days to clarify their address, they are placed on the inactive list.

After every election, the Secretary of State is required to place all voters who have not voted in the preceding four years on the inactive list.

Inactive voters must re-register to vote in order to be considered active.

The Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC)

See also: Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC)

According to its website, ERIC is a nonprofit corporation that is governed by a board of member-states. These member states submit voter registration and motor vehicle registration information to ERIC. ERIC uses this information, as well as Social Security death records, to provide member states with detailed reports showing voters who have moved within their state, moved out of their state, died, have duplicate registrations in their state, or are potentially eligible to vote but are not yet registered. ERIC's website describes its funding as follows: "Each state pays annual dues, which are determined by a formula approved by the ERIC membership. The formula includes a state's citizen voting age population as a factor."

By 2022, 33 states and the District of Columbia had joined ERIC. As of August 2023, 26 states and the District of Columbia were members in the ERIC program.

As of August 2023, Minnesota was participating in the ERIC program.

Post-election auditing

Minnesota state law requires post-election audits. County election officials audit randomly selected precincts. For smaller counties, at least two precincts are chosen. For larger counties, four precincts or 3 percent of precincts, whichever is greater, are chosen. "If there’s a difference greater than 0.5% (or greater than 2 votes in a precinct where 400 or fewer ballots were cast) an additional review of at least 3 precincts is conducted. If there is still a discrepancy of the sort listed above, all precincts must be reviewed within that district. If the audit results show an error in 10% of the total votes cast in the election in one or more counties, a manual recount of all districts where the error occurred is ordered." The audit must be completed before the canvass.

Post-election audits check that election results tallied by a state's voting system match results from paper records, such as paper ballots filled out by voters or the paper records produced by electronic voting machines. Post-election audits are classified into two categories: audits of election results—which include traditional post-election audits as well as risk-limiting audits—and procedural audits.

Typically, traditional post-election audits are done by recounting a portion of ballots, either electronically or by hand, and comparing the results to those produced by the state's voting system. In contrast, risk-limiting audits use statistical methods to compare a random sample of votes cast to election results instead of reviewing every ballot. The scope of procedural audits varies by state, but they typically include a systematic review of voting equipment, performance of the voting system, vote totals, duties of election officials and workers, ballot chain of custody, and more.

As of December 2023, 41 states and the District of Columbia required some form of post-election audit. Of these, 36 states and the District of Columbia required traditional post-election audits, three states required risk-limiting post-election audits, and two states required procedural post-election audits.

Election policy ballot measures

See also: Elections and campaigns on the ballot and List of Minnesota ballot measures

Ballotpedia has tracked the following ballot measures relating to election and campaign policy in Minnesota.

1. Minnesota Voter Identification Amendment, Amendment 2 (2012)
2. Minnesota State Canvassing Board, Amendment 3 (1873)
3. Minnesota State Canvassing Board, Amendment 3 (1877)
4. Minnesota System for Biennial Elections, Amendment 2 (1883)
5. Minnesota Clarify Voting Requirements, Amendment 3 (1952)
6. Minnesota Voting Location and Indian Voting Rights, Amendment 4 (1960)
7. Minnesota Age Requirements for Voting and Holding Office, Amendment 1 (1970)
8. Minnesota Campaign Spending Limits, Amendment 1 (1980)

Recent legislation related to election administration in Minnesota

The table below lists bills related to election administration that have been introduced during (or carried over to) the current legislative session in Minnesota. The following information is included for each bill:

• State
• Bill number
• Official name or caption
• Most recent action date
• Legislative status
• Topics dealt with by the bill

Bills are organized alphabetically, first by state and then by bill number. The table displays up to 100 results by default. To view additional results, use the arrows in the upper-right corner of the table. For more information about a particular bill, click the bill number. This will open a separate page with additional information.

Ballotpedia's Election Administration Legislation Tracker

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The Ballot Bulletin

The Ballot Bulletin is a weekly email that delivers the latest updates on election policy. The Ballot Bulletin tracks developments in election policy around the country, including legislative activity, big-picture trends, and recent news. Each email contains in-depth data from our Election Administration Legislation Tracker. You'll also be able to track relevant legislation, with links to and summaries of the bills themselves.

Click here to view recent issues and subscribe.

Ballot access

See also: Ballot access requirements for political candidates in Minnesota

A cardboard ballot box at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History

In order to get on the ballot in Minnesota, a candidate for state or federal office must meet a variety of state-specific filing requirements and deadlines. These regulations, known as ballot access laws, determine whether a candidate or party will appear on an election ballot. These laws are set at the state level. A candidate must prepare to meet ballot access requirements well in advance of primaries, caucuses, and the general election.

There are three basic methods by which an individual may become a candidate for office in a state.

1. An individual can seek the nomination of a state-recognized political party.
2. An individual can run as an independent. Independent candidates often must petition in order to have their names printed on the general election ballot.
3. An individual can run as a write-in candidate.

This article outlines the steps that prospective candidates for state-level and congressional office must take in order to run for office in Minnesota. For information about filing requirements for presidential candidates, see "Ballot access requirements for presidential candidates in Minnesota." Information about filing requirements for local-level offices is not available in this article (contact state election agencies for information about local candidate filing processes).

Redistricting

See also: Redistricting in Minnesota

"Gerrymandering"

Redistricting is the process by which new congressional and state legislative district boundaries are drawn. Each of Minnesota's eight United States Representatives and 201 state legislators are elected from political divisions called districts. United States Senators are not elected by districts, but by the states at large. District lines are redrawn every 10 years following completion of the United States census. The federal government stipulates that districts must have nearly equal populations and must not discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity.

Minnesota was apportioned eight seats in the U.S. House of Representatives after the 2020 census, the same number it received after the 2010 census. Click here for more information about redistricting in Minnesota after the 2020 census.

HIGHLIGHTS

Following the 2020 United States Census, Minnesota was apportioned eight congressional districts, which was unchanged from the number it had after the 2010 census.

Minnesota's House of Representatives is made up of 134 districts; Minnesota's State Senate is made up of 67 districts.

In Minnesota, congressional and state legislative district boundaries are drawn by the Minnesota State Legislature.

State process

See also: State-by-state redistricting procedures

In Minnesota, congressional and state legislative district boundaries are drawn by the Minnesota State Legislature. These lines are subject to veto by the governor.

The Minnesota Constitution requires "that state Senate districts be contiguous, and that Representative districts be nested within Senate districts." State statutes apply contiguity requirements to all congressional and state legislative districts. Furthermore, state statutes stipulate that political subdivisions should not be divided "more than necessary."

Election administration agencies

Election agencies

Seal of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission

See also: State election agencies

Individuals seeking additional information about voting provisions in Minnesota can contact the following local, state, and federal agencies.

Minnesota County Election Officials

Click here for a list

Minnesota Secretary of State

180 State Office Building

100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

St. Paul, Minnesota 55155-1299

Telephone: 651-215-1440

Email: elections.dept@state.mn.us

http://www.sos.state.mn.us/

U.S. Election Assistance Commission

633 3rd Street NW, Suite 200

Washington, DC 20001

Telephone: 301-563-3919

Toll free: 1-866-747-1471

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Democratic primaries 2024

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See also

• 2024 election dates and deadlines
• Voting in Minnesota
• Ballot access requirements for political candidates in Minnesota
• Redistricting in Minnesota

Elections in Minnesota

• Minnesota elections, 2023
• Minnesota elections, 2022
• Minnesota elections, 2021
• Minnesota elections, 2020
• Minnesota elections, 2019
• Minnesota elections, 2018
• Minnesota elections, 2017
• Minnesota elections, 2016
• Minnesota elections, 2015
• Minnesota elections, 2014

External links

• Minnesota Secretary of State - Elections