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In the first six days of voting, local election officials in Minnesota have distributed 431,502 absentee and mail ballots. County, city and township election officials have accepted 32,788 ballots.

The number of Minnesotans who are voting early in the Nov. 5 election is fewer than in 2020 during the pandemic when 1,246,810 ballots were sent in the first week, but nearly three times higher than in 2016, when 150,488 ballots were sent in the first week.

“Voting season has begun and Minnesotans are clearly excited to make their voices heard,” said Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon. “There is still plenty of time left for folks to do their research on the candidates and issues that will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot — and our website mnvotes.gov is here to help. At mnvotes.gov, voters can get registered, request an absentee ballot, view their sample ballot, find their polling place, and more.”

The Office of the Secretary of State will update absentee voting data each Thursday through the fall.

In Minnesota, there are three ways to vote:

1. By mail: Minnesotans can vote by mail by requesting a ballot at mnvotes.gov/absentee starting Sept. 20. About 150,000 Minnesotans live in mail ballot precincts and will be mailed a ballot automatically if they are registered to vote. Ballots must be received by local election offices by 8 p.m. on Election Day to be counted. Voters can track their ballot at mnvotes.gov/trackmyballot.
2. Early in-person: Minnesotans can vote absentee in person at their local election office during business hours between September 20 and November 5. There are also special early voting hours during the 2024 General Election:
   • Saturday, Oct. 25 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
   • Tuesday, Oct. 29 open until 7 p.m.
   • Saturday, Nov. 2 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
   • Sunday, Nov. 3 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
   • Monday, Nov. 4 open until 5 p.m.
3. In-person on Election Day: Minnesotans can vote in-person at their local polling place on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Find a polling place at mnvotes.gov/pollfinder. All polling places are open until 8 p.m. As long as voters are in line to vote by 8 p.m. they can vote. In Minnesota, people can register to vote on election day.