Here’s what you need to know to vote in MN primaries for U.S. Senate, House as early voting begins

Alex Derosier, Pioneer Press
·3 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Early voting starts Friday in Minnesota’s primary elections for U.S. Senate, eight U.S. representative seats, and seats in the state’s House of Representatives and state Secretary of State Steve Simon expects an “intense election year.”

While the primary election is Aug. 13, voters can cast ballots in the 46 days leading up to the primary itself, whether by mail absentee ballots or through in-person early voting.

At a Thursday Capitol press briefing, Simon, the state’s top elections official, said his office expects a busy few months ahead as the Senate, House and legislative races coincide with a presidential election.

Supercharged, highly-polarized era

Simon said his office said it is working to build public trust in the elections system and is positioning itself to combat election misinformation — something Simon says new Minnesota laws put his office in a good position to accomplish.

“I wish for two things over the next 131 days: high turnout and low drama,” he said, looking ahead to the general election on Nov. 5. “We live in a supercharged, highly-polarized era. But I’m confident that we can overcome those challenges, we have before and 2020 was a good stress test.”

Four years ago, unsubstantiated claims of widespread election fraud by former President Donald Trump as well as reports of threats to poll workers led to a tumultuous election, and Minnesota’s Legislature in 2023 passed bills aimed at combatting misinformation, such as artificial intelligence-generated “deep fakes,” and intimidation.

Simon said so far there have not been any reports of voting misinformation or any abuse of AI in the leadup to the August primary.

Public testing of ballot machines, review of absentee ballots

The Secretary of State also noted the usual steps his office and local election officials take to ensure election security, including public testing of ballot machines and multiple steps of review for absentee ballots.

More than 30,000 people work as election judges, and there must be an equal number of Democratic-Farmer-Labor and Republican judges at each polling place, Simon said.

Minnesota held its presidential primary in a separate election in March. The only statewide contest in the summer primary is for U.S. Senate.

In that race, DFL-endorsed U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar is seeking the party’s nomination for a fourth term. Also appearing on the ballot are Steve Carlson, Ahmad R. Hassan, George H. Kalberer and perennial candidate Ole Savior.

Running for the Republican Senate nomination are John Berman, Joe Fraser, Patrick D. Munro, Christopher Seymore Sr., Raymond D. Petersen, Loner Blue, Royce White and Alycia R. Gruenhagen.

All eight of Minnesota’s Congressional seats are up for election. In the Fourth District, which covers St. Paul and the east metro, 12-term Congresswoman Betty McCollum is running unopposed in the Democratic primary. In the GOP primary, 2022 candidate May Lor Xiong and Gene Rechtzigel are vying for the nomination.

There are also some contested primaries across the state for the state House of Representatives, where all 134 seats are up for election this year.

How to vote, how to track your vote

More information on the ballot for your address can be found on the Secretary of State’s website at myballotmn.sos.state.mn.us/, or by calling 1-877-600-VOTE (8683).

Unlike many other states, Minnesota does not require party registration to participate in a primary. However, voters can only vote in one party’s primary.

Voters have until July 23 to register to vote or can register to vote at the polls on the day of the election.

Those who choose to send in an absentee ballot can “claw back” their ballot if they change their mind on which candidates they want to back, though the deadline to do so is July 25.

Early in-person voting and absentee voting are options until Aug. 12.

Minnesota has an open primary, meaning anyone 18 or older who is a citizen of the U.S. and not currently incarcerated can participate.

Related Articles