There are 25 voting precincts in the city, but only 24 of them will be staffed with election judges on Election Day. This unstaffed precinct doesn’t even provide a location for people to vote. That’s because no one votes. “To my knowledge, I don’t think we’ve ever had a voter turn in a ballot from there.” said Blaine City Clerk Cathy Sorensen. Precinct 1-9 is the small part of Blaine that drifts into Ramsey County. It’s the area that includes Medtronic and plenty of other smaller businesses. It’s industrial, no homes, sleeping there on election night. All parts of the city need to be in a precinct, regardless of how the land is zoned. “The law states that where someone typically sleeps at night is where they can register, so it doesn’t necessarily have to be place of residence.” So this industrial area of Ramsey County was set up as its own precinct. “Precincts are determined every ten years by the census, so we’ll be doing that process again. We’ll be redistricting again in 2022,” said Sorensen. Sorensen says while Precinct 1-9 isn’t voting, many voters in other precincts are casting their votes. As of the first week of October, more than 7,000 Blaine voters have turned in their ballots, and Sorensen estimates that to be about 16 percent of the total vote that will be cast in the city.
BLAINE PRECINCT HAS NO VOTERS
BLAINE – Right now, Blaine voters are voting early at the Mary Ann Young Center. But on Election Day polling places in each of the voting precincts across the city will open for voters. All precincts expect for Precinct 1-9.
