What You Need to Know Before Election Day
Election Day is Tuesday November 8th. I was joined on WJON today by Stearns County Auditor-Treasurer Randy Schreifels and Stearns County Division Director License Center & Elections, Laura Laudenbach. Laudenbach says they expect a long day with staff starting at 6 a.m. Tuesday with the expectation they will be there until 2 a.m. Wednesday.
Many people chose to vote early. Laudenbach says they are on track to have a similar number of people chose that option compared to the last midterm election in 2018 with 10,000 people voting early so far. She says they had 4 times that amount of people vote early 2 years ago during the Presidential election. Randy Schreifels reminds people who were thinking about mailing in their ballot today to think twice about that. He says ballots that arrive after 8 p.m. Tuesday will not be counted. Schreifels explains it doesn't matter if the ballot is postmarked prior as it did during the pandemic in 2020.
For people that need to register or are wondering if they are registered Schreifels suggests to go to mnvotes.org. If someone needs to register he says the person needs to show a picture ID, and where you live which can typically done with a utility bill. Schreifels explains if you have a drivers license with your current address that is all you need. He says if you moved and your drivers license doesn't have your current address then a utility bill should be brought with. For registered voters Laudenbach indicates no ID is required but proof of your information will need to be provided which Schreifels says could be a drivers license to help the election judges identify the individual.
As far as results go Schreifels says all the ballots need to be brought to them from the precincts in to tabulate. He explains drive time plays a role in which precincts report results first. Schreifels indicates if someone is in line prior to 8 p.m. they will be allowed to vote. If people would like to see a sample ballot or would like to know where they will vote go to mnvotes.org.
For complete election results Tuesday and Wednesday go to wjon.com.
If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Laura Laudenbach and Randy Schreifels it is available below.