“We are mindful that a lot of candidates use our office for the notary requirement, and so we know that since that’s still a part of the affidavit of candidacy, that’s a step they’ll need to take,” said Paul Linnell, Anoka County’s Election Manager. “We expect there will still be many that will be coming in person to file at our office.”
And this week, a new law signed by Governor Walz allows for electronic filing and payment.
“Electronic filing is brand new. That hasn’t been done before. It always had to be in person,” said Blaine City Clerk Cathy Sorensen. “We are just encouraging people to file either electronically, through our website, or to drop off the filing materials.”
The filing period is the first of many challenges faced by elections offices this year. Absentee voting for August primary begins June 26.
“We made the decision early on to move our absentee voting processes to the Mary Ann Young Center,” said Sorensen.
That’s for in-person absentee voting. Election officials are hoping many voters choose another way.
“Minnesota has a leg up on a lot of states in that we have this infrastructure in place. Any voter without an excuse can request an absentee ballot by mail. We are going to take efforts to encourage folks to take advantage of those options and spread out voting over the 46 day absentee period,” said Linell.
Another part of the new law says that schools cannot be used as polling places unless there is no other reasonable option. Election administrators are tasked with finding safe polling places with as little population as possible. And they have until July to do so.
To staff these polling places, they also need election judges, something that comes with its own complications.
“Usually these judges in our highest numbers come from the populations that are at highest risk in this current pandemic. So, knowing that that’s going to be a limitation and we’ll need to be looking at and encouraging folks from lowest risk age groups to sign up and heed the call.”
If cities can’t find enough election judges, they will be forced to lower the number of polling places to keep every polling place staffed according to state law.
City clerks like Sorensen have been working to make the necessary plans and changes to make this election season – from filing for office to voting on election day as seamless as possible.
