MN Voters Urged To Vote, Return Ballot In Person After Ruling

MINNESOTA — Following a decision in federal court, state officials are encouraging residents to vote in-person rather than by mail. An Eighth Circuit panel ruled Thursday evening that election officials must "segregate" Minnesota ballots received after Election Day.

The decision is a victory for local GOP groups, who sought to challenge Minnesota's extended Nov. 10 absentee ballot deadline.

"There is no pandemic exception to the Constitution," the court ruled. The ballots that arrive after Nov. 3 will be segregated in case a later ruling finds that all post-Election Day ballots in Minnesota must be thrown out entirely.

Before the ruling, mailed-in ballots postmarked by Election Day — Nov. 3 — and that arrive by Nov. 10 would be counted. Now, there is no guarantee that ballots received after Election Day will count.

Voting in Minnesota

Minnesota voters have three ways to cast their ballot now through Election Day:

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.

Democrats criticize ruling

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon condemned the court's ruling and called it a "tremendous and unnecessary disruption."

"This last-minute change could disenfranchise Minnesotans who were relying on settled rules for the 2020 election — rules that were in place before the August 11 primary and were accepted by all political parties," Simon said.

"It is deeply troubling that the people who brought the lawsuit, a conservative legislator and presidential elector, would seek to sabotage the system for political gain."

Jennifer Carnahan, the chair of Minnesota's Republican Party, called the decision a "big win" for "election protection" and "freedom."

"In MN we already have six-weeks for people to vote early. An extra seven-days to receive a ballot was always unnecessary and just a move by the left to play around with this election."

Ken Martin, chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, sparred with Carnahan over Twitter.

Martin told voters that it's too late to mail their ballot.

"If you haven't mailed in your absentee ballot yet, DON'T MAIL IT! Instead drop your ballot off in person or vote on election day," he said.