BLAINE, Minn. – (June 28, 2018) – With the primary elections coming up, Blaine is preparing for residents who want to vote early. Blaine City Clerk, Cathy Sorensen talked about what the process for early in person absentee voting will look like starting June 29.
“At City Hall you just come to the information desk, residents will fill out an application for an absentee ballot that we can register new voters or voters that may have moved since last election and then we can get them their ballot and they can vote right here at City Hall,” Sorensen said.
The last week of early voting will be similar to how it works on Election Day.
“Last year, the last seven days before an election, voters were actually able to place their ballot in a tabulator, just like how you do on Election Day and that was a great time saver for the voters and it just gave them that same experience that they would get on election day, and we’ll be able to offer that again this year as well,” Sorensen said.
One tip Sorensen had is that it always helps to register beforehand.
“Voters can register to vote online if they go to our website or the easiest way is to go to the secretary of state’s website which is mnvotes.org, they can check their registration there to make sure that they’re registered and even register online which would just make things a lot faster for them on election day or even coming here to absentee vote,” she explained.
Although this early voting process has been in place since 2014, in 2016 the numbers say a huge increase and Sorensen expects the numbers will continue to grow
“In 2016 we noticed that out absentee voter turnout about tripled from 7 percent in 2014 to 21 percent,” she said. “Here at City Hall, the last week before Election Day, we processed 3,000 voters here at City Hall in addition to the folks that would have voted at Anoka County or even by mail ballot, that Monday before election day we processed 1,000 voters here at City Hall, while it may not be as busy as that because that was a presidential election, we do expect that residents will take advantage of this opportunity, just come to City Hall.”
Blaine residents can vote at both the Blaine City Hall and the Anoka County Government Center, right up to Election Day.
