Six out of every 10 Minnesotans who voted in the August primary election cast their ballot absentee — a surge that helped voter turnout to nearly triple over the last presidential election year in 2016.
According to numbers received last week from the Secretary of State's Office, an estimated 543,652 of the 912,714 ballots cast in the primary were submitted under the state's no-excuse absentee voting rules, which allow voters to request a ballot before Election Day and submit it by mail or in person without having to visit their traditional polling place.
That option has become increasingly popular since it was enacted in 2014 but exploded in popularity this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, more Minnesotans cast more absentee ballots this year than voted in any capacity during the 2016 primary.
It also helped drive Minneapolis' highest primary turnout in 50 years. Roughly two-thirds of the city's ballots were cast early, and fewer than 1% of absentee ballots were spoiled.
Many counties in the Twin Cities metro area also saw most of their primary vote arrive absentee, despite mail-in balloting traditionally being more common in rural areas. Some areas of greater Minnesota, including Cook County and Grant County, saw more than 90% of their ballots cast absentee.
Only about 5% of the total early vote was in person.
The general election on Nov. 3 will likely test Minnesota's capacity to handle an even greater surge of voters mailing their ballots.
Strained operations at the U.S. Postal Service have sparked concerns among lawmakers and advocates that some ballots may be lost or not arrive in time to be counted.
