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

The deadline for Minnesota cities and counties to receive absentee ballots was extended, delaying when some results have been posted.

The Minnesota Star Tribune
November 6, 2024 at 6:05AM
Voters make their way to the polls as the doors open at the Bloomington Civic Plaza on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Elizabeth Flores/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

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.

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.

View post on X

“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.”

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.

about the writer

about the writer

Louis Krauss

Reporter

Louis Krauss is a general assignment reporter for the Star Tribune.

See More

More from Elections

card image

Three-term incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester of Montana faces perhaps his toughest reelection challenge yet on Tuesday, with a key Senate seat on the line in a state that has veered sharply rightward since the 68-year-old grain farmer's first election.

card image