Don't Be Alarmed If MN Election Results Aren't In Tuesday Night

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Thousands of Minnesotans will head to the polls Tuesday to cast in-person ballots for local, state, and federal elections. One of the biggest questions on everyone's mind is this; will we know the results and winners of Minnesota's elections by Tuesday night?

"When citizens see that on election night we don't have 100 percent of the results in, it is literally by design. This is the plan," Secretary of State Steve Simon said in an online news conference in October.

"It's not evidence that anyone is hiding or concealing or rigging or stealing. It's evidence of the actual plan." So if all of the state's races aren't called by the end of the night, do not be alarmed or surprised.

The good news — from an administrative standpoint — is that election officials have already begun counting the mail-in and early ballots. State lawmakers this year decided to allow early ballot counting to begin 14 days out from Election Day.

Other states, such as Pennsylvania, don't allow the counting to begin until Election Day.

Minnesotans break early voting records

Voters in the state continue to smash previous records for early voting.

Absentee voting data for Minnesota, provided by the Minnesota Secretary of State Office:

Voting in Minnesota

1. Voters who received a ballot by mail don't have to use it. They can discard it and vote in-person on Election Day, like normal.
2. Or they can return that ballot in-person to the local election office that sent the ballot. Do not return a mail-in ballot to your polling location, because they cannot accept it.
3. Minnesotans have the option to register to vote on Election Day at their polling location if they want to cast a ballot in-person.

Learn more about the voting process in Minnesota here.