Delay in Minnesota election results likely due to absentee ballot deadline change

Minnesota’s election results came in significantly slower after polls closed Tuesday night, likely due to the extended deadline for counties and cities to receive absentee ballots this year.

Less than half of the results in the presidential race in were reported in Minnesota just before 11 p.m. The first race call in Minnesota — Seventh District Rep. Michelle Fischbach’s re-election — came after 10 p.m., two hours after polls closed.

Some of the most delayed results were in Anoka County, which reported results after 2 a.m. The county decided wait until all results were in to upload them, according to a post from the county’s account for X, formerly known as Twitter.

So what caused the delay in reporting results? In 2023, the deadline for receiving absentee ballots was extended from 3 to 8 p.m. That change is causing results to be posted later, said Cassondra Knudson, the spokeswoman for Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon.

“Most counties are expected to process the absentee ballots received by 8 p.m. before reporting any election results,” Knudson wrote in a statement about the deadline changes.

Just before midnight, Anoka County wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that it was processing a “very large” amount of absentee ballots and that it could take a couple of hours to release the results.

“A very large amount of absentee ballots dropped off at cities tonight is causing a delay in our reporting,” the county wrote on its official X account. “We want our results to be 100% complete instead of releasing a partial count. It could be a couple of more hours.”

A little after 2:30 a.m., Anoka County posted an update, saying it had begun uploading results.

“Update/correction: at 1:42 we began compiling absentee and Election Day totals,” the county’s post read. “Results are now being uploaded to the state.”

So far, some state races have almost all of the results posted, while others have a long way to go to be called. Nearly 1.3 million absentee ballots had been accepted, according to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office. There are nearly 3.7 million registered voters in Minnesota.