by April Scheinoha
Reporter

The requests have been flying in for absentee ballots for the general election, which will be held Tuesday, Nov. 3.

In Pennington County, there have been 753 requests for absentee ballots so far. That doesn’t include the 840 mail-in ballots that the county also sends out to precincts that utilize mail-in ballots. Interim County Auditor-Treasurer Jennifer Herzberg noted the number of requests is high compared to similar requests in years past.

That trend was also noticed during the primary election Tuesday, Aug. 11. Herzberg said the county accepted 603 absentee ballots for the primary election. Those ballots included military and mail-in ballots. A total of 13 precincts use mail-in ballots in Pennington County. That includes 11 townships and the cities of Goodridge and St. Hilaire.

Comparatively, that number was 164 in the 2018 primary election. Two years earlier, that number was 122. During the 2016 and 2018 primary elections, six county precincts utilized mail-in ballots.
More voters may be requesting absentee ballots to avoid going to the polls due to COVID-19. Voters may request an absentee ballot by going to the Auditor-Treasurer’s Office at the Government Center (formerly known as the courthouse) or accessing an application online at sos.state.mn.us. Applicants will need to provide their name, address and date of birth. They will also need to provide either the number of their driver’s license or Minnesota ID card, or the last four digits of their Social Security number. Monday, Nov. 2 is the last day to request an absentee ballot.

The Auditor-Treasurer’s Office plans to begin mailing absentee ballots Friday, Sept. 18. Absentee ballots must be postmarked by Tuesday, Nov. 3 and received by the Auditor-Treasurer’s Office within seven days of the election.

Voters can also vote via absentee ballot at the Auditor-Treasurer’s Office up until Monday, Nov. 2. “On Election Day, they would have to go to the polls if they hadn’t already received a ballot,” Herzberg said.

It also goes without saying that if a voter votes via absentee ballot, the person won’t be able to vote again at the polls.