Absentee voting is now open in Minnesota for the Nov. 4 election.
And this year the law was changed, you don’t need an excuse to vote early. Says the Secretary of State’s office:
Voters may vote early in person at their county elections office or local elections office from September 19 through November 3. Or, voters may submit a request online at mnvotes.org for a ballot to be mailed to them. Voters may also download an absentee ballot application, and submit it by mail, email, fax or personal delivery.
There’s even a YouTube video on how to do it.
It will be a full ballot, with lots of state races this year: governor, attorney general, secretary of state and state auditor, and all Minnesota State House seats.
And an added bonus: for the first time, political parties can buy the lists of who’s already voted, which means that, theoretically, if you vote early you won’t get as many phone calls reminding you to vote.
Notes the Rochester Post Bulletin:
Leaders with both the Republican and DFL parties say they plan to get those lists so they know which voters have cast their ballots and will stop targeting them, instead focusing on Minnesotans who have yet to vote.
“Perhaps the more people start voting early and realize it spares them all kinds of visits, calls and mail pieces, the more people might take advantage of it in the future,” said Republican Party of Minnesota Chairman Keith Downey.
