Casting your ballot just got easier in Hennepin County with the rollout of their new ExpressVote machines.
The machines offer a range of features allowing voters to cast their ballots privately, with their rollout coming just in time for the start of early voting in municipal elections in Minneapolis.
Voter engagement program manager Karl Landskroener says feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive.
"We ran a survey last year for voters who were voting in Henneman County government center early, using the machine, and got very good feedback from from that," says Landzrenner. "Hearing their feedback and especially hearing them be very positive about how much better of an experience it was, was really great."
He says the county has over 300 of these machines, enough for every precinct to help ensure a more equitable voting experience.
Landskroener says these devices offer a wide array of features, including audio-assist options and even braille keypads.
"A lot of voters with accesibility needs are very, very highly civically engaged," he says. "And really interesting to kind of see how they kind of stroll through the ballot. And different people have different kind of strategies and ways of kind of reading off their choices."
Early voting for the November elections got underway Friday morning at both the Minneapolis early voting center at 980 East Hennepin Avenue, and in St. Paul at 90 Plato Boulevard.
There are a slew of offices up for grabs in Minneapolis, including the mayor, city council seats, and the park board.
In St. Paul, there is an election for mayor, and several referendums on the ballot.
Voter registration continues, with the deadline to register online and through the mail coming on October 14th. Minnesota does have in-person voter registration on election day at polling places.