Appeals court rules MN absentee votes to be separated, may not be counted

Absentee ballots not received by Minnesota election offices by 8 pm on election night will be separated and possibly removed from the final vote totals. That’s the ruling of a federal appeals court. That decision overrides a lower court ruling and removes a seven-day grace period to count ballots post-marked November 3rd. Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon is urging voters *not* to mail-in ballots, but to “get your ballot in right away, don’t wait until the last minute.” He advises hand-delivering the ballot or have someone you know and trust hand-deliver it to your local election office for you. Voters who haven’t yet mailed an absentee ballot can drop it off in-person by 3 pm on Election Day or vote in-person before the polls close at 8 pm. So far, nearly 1.6 million absentee ballots have been accepted in Minnesota. As of Friday, more than 1.9 million absentee ballots had been requested. Currently, there are still 388,535 absentee ballots yet to be turned in.