Minneapolis is seeing a higher voter turnout that's not far behind the most recent presidential election, a city official said this week.
As of Friday, more than 33,000 early votes have been cast, city records show. More than 38,000 people voted by the Friday before Election Day 2016.
"This is more like a presidential year," said City Clerk Casey Carl, the city's chief elections official.
On Tuesday, the first day of direct balloting, the city launched three additional early voting centers. On the same day, turnout at an early voting center in north Minneapolis was 42 percent higher than it was the first day at the same site in the 2016 general election, Carl said.
Although the number of early voters represent a small percentage of total voters, it could have an impact on turnout on Election Day, Carl said.
"Even if we are having these huge [early voter] turnouts now, what does that mean for Tuesday?" he said.
