Early voting is underway in Minneapolis for the U.S. presidential primary. Voters will be among the first in the nation to cast ballots in this high-profile presidential race, and they can do that at the Early Vote Center, 980 E. Hennepin Ave., from now through the day before the March 3 primary – Super Tuesday.
Early voting in Minnesota is ‘earlier’ than many states. That has voters here casting ballots earlier than voters in other Super Tuesday states, and before the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary voting gets started. That makes voters here among the first in the nation to choose their candidate for U.S. president.
This is a presidential primary – only U.S presidential candidates are on the ballot. Democrats have 15 presidential candidates on their ballot; Republicans have only President Trump and a write-in line.
Unlike other elections, voters in the presidential primary need to choose which major party’s ballot they want. The party they choose is not public information, though it will be available to each major party.
Hours for the Early Vote Center are 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday (closed Presidents Day, Feb. 17). The center is also open the last two Saturdays before the primary. In addition voters can also vote early at the downtown Hennepin County Government Center, 300 S. Sixth St. More info on early voting is at vote.minneapolismn.gov/voters/absentee.
Early in-person voting at the Early Vote Center is convenient. It especially helps voters who need special accommodations, such as language support, that the extra time, attention and onsite resources of early in-person voting afford more readily than the polls might on the day of the election.
Any voter can vote early by mail; no reason is required. Allow enough time to complete the process by mail; it can take longer than seven days. Applications are available at vote.minneapolismn.gov/voters/absentee.
While people can register to vote at the polls, pre-registering makes voting on primary day a faster process. Voters can check the status of their registrations at vote.minneapolismn.gov/voters/register. Anyone who has moved to a new address or had a name change since last registering will need to re-register. Voters who haven’t voted in the past four years also must re-register to vote.
People can pre-register online, or fill out and mail in a registration application which is available at government offices and the elections website. Pre-registration ends 21 days before the March 3 primary.