4 p.m.
Some Minnesota voters say their opposition to Republican President Donald Trump brought them out to vote in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Twenty-two-year-old Sarah Roth of Minnetonka says Trump is “making a lot of these wrong decisions,” and she wants to see the U.S. House flip to Democratic control.
Roth, a liberal Democrat, says she thinks Congress needs to do more to oppose Trump. She says she voted a straight-line blue ticket on Tuesday.
Another Minnetonka voter, Phillip Baum, describes himself as a moderate conservative who leans Republican. Baum is a general contractor and says the economy is the most important issue to him. He owns his own business and says he never wants to go through another Great Recession.
Baum says he would like to see more compromise in Congress. He feels both sides are “too stubborn, bullheaded and there’s no compromise.”
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3:40 p.m.
Voter turnout is strong in Minnesota’s largest city for Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Minneapolis estimates nearly 70,000 voters have cast their ballots as of noon. The total is based on unofficial tabulator counts from 95 percent of all precincts. That means about 28 percent of all registered Minneapolis voters showed up to vote Tuesday morning.
As of Tuesday morning, more than 51,000 Minneapolis voters cast early ballots. That number is expected to climb as additional absentee ballots arrive by mail.
Ramsey County elections manager Joe Mansky says turnout also is good in his metro county. Mansky says he visited some polling places Tuesday morning, and the judges all reported high turnout, with a line of voters waiting for one polling place to open.
Mansky says absentee voting in Ramsey County through Tuesday morning was over 60,000. That compares with 64,000 during the presidential election two years ago.
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12:20 p.m.
Minnesota elections officials are anticipating a high voter turnout for Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Minnesota Secretary of State spokesman Ben Petok says as of Tuesday morning, elections officials had received nearly 615,000 absentee and mail-in ballots. That’s close to the more than 650,000 absentee and mail-in ballots received for the presidential election two years ago.
Petok says he has not heard of any major voting glitches. He says one precinct in Anoka County had problems starting up e-poll books, but quickly switched to a paper roster for signing in voters. Polls in Minnesota are open until 8 p.m.
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7 a.m.
Voters were lined up as the polls opened in Minnesota on this Election Day.
Light rain didn’t seem to dampen voters’ enthusiasm at a community center in Minnetonka, a suburb west of Minneapolis Tuesday where about 15 people were lined up to vote as the three polling places opened.
There is much at stake for this midterm election in Minnesota, including an open race for governor, two U.S. Senate seats, a hotly contested race for attorney general, several congressional races and control of the Legislature.
Polls close at 8 p.m. But, if you’re in line at 8 p.m. and haven’t voted, you can still mark your ballot.
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6:10 a.m.
The seemingly unending campaign pitches and barrage of political advertising all comes down to the voters on this Election Day.
Polls open across Minnesota at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. Tuesday. It’s too soon to tell what impact the overcast skies, light rain and snow showers will have on voter turnout.
Election officials are expecting presidential-level turnout after the August primary drew the highest primary turnout since 1994.
Hundreds of thousands of voters have already marked their ballots. Election officials say nearly 540,000 Minnesotans have cast early votes since September when the window opened. That nearly matches the early general election turnout in 2016.
