Absentee and mail-in voting encouraged, more popular

As of Tuesday, July 21, the Carlton County auditor’s office had mailed a total of 5,293 ballots for the Aug. 11 primary election, with 1,606 absentee and 3,687 mail ballots going out.

It’s a huge jump compared to past elections, in both categories.

For the 2016 primary, there were a total of 139 absentee ballots requested, and 1,758 mail ballots. For the 2018 primary, there were 418 absentee ballots requested, and 2,186 mail ballots.

As the coronavirus continues to threaten the health of people locally and across the country, county acting auditor/treasurer Kathy Kortuem is encouraging people to vote by using absentee ballots if they don’t already live where mail-in ballots are used. Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention weighed in last month, suggesting that election officials take steps to minimize crowds at voting locations, including offering alternative voting methods.

There are a couple of new absentee voting provisions for the primary elections, including:

1. Absentee and mail-in ballot envelopes do not need to be signed by a witness for this election. The voter must sign.

2. Absentee ballot envelopes that are postmarked by election day will be accepted for two days after the election. Only mail-in ballots postmarked on or before Aug. 11 will be accepted late, via U.S. mail or package delivery service. No hand-delivered ballots will be accepted after Election Day.

Anyone who is a registered voter and lives in a mail-in ballot precinct will automatically be mailed a ballot.

Have questions? Call the county auditor’s office at 218-384-9127 or go online to mnvotes.org or sos.state.mn.us/elections-voting.