MN Sec. of State anticipates smooth election

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – Minnesotans will not have to wait long to find out who won their state’s races. Secretary of State Steve Simon (DFL) says results should be “unofficially” known by midnight Tuesday or early Wednesday morning.

“Those are unofficial results on election night,” Simon said. “We always check our work, and by state law, we have to.”

Election laws in Minnesota require all absentee votes to be delivered by the date of election day, whereas in other states, it takes until days after elections to tally votes due to ballots arriving after Election Day.

“It goes through multiple layers of review afterwards to make sure that those official, unofficial, results square up with the actual, official count, that comes in later days,” Simon said.

Votes are tallied at the local level, which means vetted community members are responsible for counting the votes in a safe and secure way.

“Those are done by your friends and neighbors,” Simon said. “Those are all people we know. Those are the election judges who sign up, they get mandatory training. It’s the county, city, or township who hires them.”

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