Election Information
Election Day is just one week from today. Several people have been taking advantage of the early voting option, and the Auditor’s office in the Meeker County Court House has been a busy place.
Auditor Barb Loch says her office is still located at the Meeker County Court House and it will not be moving to the Health & Human Services building until after Thanksgiving and people can only enter the Court House on the Sibley Avenue side. She says there will be more extended hours at the Court House for early voting including Saturday and Sunday from 9-to-3 each day and until 5 p.m. on Monday. The polling locations will be open on November 5th from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Loch says 10 precincts in Meeker County have mail-only ballots and if those residents choose to vote in advance at the Auditor’s office, they need to bring their ballot from the mail to the Court House. She says early ballots and mail-in ballots are checked for any mistakes and efforts are made to contact those voters before Election Day, but ALL ballots are counted AFTER 8 p.m. on November 5th.
Loch says you do not need to vote in every category on your ballot, but if you vote for more than one candidate when it says to vote for only one, your ballot will be rejected; and there are categories where you can vote for more than one candidate such as school board, so it’s important to read the instructions on your ballot, and there is a constitutional amendment on this year’s ballot. If you do not vote in that category, it will be considered a “no” vote.
Loch says if you write-in a candidate, it’s important to fill in the oval next to their name or else it won’t count. She says you can follow the results on the Minnesota Secretary of State’s website on election night, and go to mnvotes.gov or the Meeker County website for any election information in advance. The election results are not official until each board or council canvasses those results. Meeker County will canvass its results on November 12th. If you have any election-related questions, call the Meeker County Auditor’s office at 693-5212.
