Despite this being an odd-year Election in 2023 without a major statewide race to decide, Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon says he believes Minnesota voters will turn out in big numbers anyway.
After routinely having the highest voter turnout in the country, WCCO's Taylor Rivera takes a look part one of WCCO's pre-Election series, Behind the Ballot.
Simon who has been campaigning to reduce voter restrictions, and promoting early voting says the candidates on the ballot this year are likely to continue to bring people to the polls on Election Day for a variety of reasons.
"We may very well have candidates on the ballot who inspire very strong feelings one way or another," said Simon. "Doesn't matter what political party, what political orientation, but that's just the nature of what we're dealing with. Same as 2020. But when you have candidates that inspire strong feelings of either like or dislike, that's another driver of participation."
The biggest Elections around the state feature some passionate mayoral races, city council positions in both St. Paul and Minneapolis, many city races, school board positions and a number of referendums on local ballots.
Don't expect a Presidential Election year turnout, or even a Midterm of course. But Minnesotan's generally participate in higher numbers than most of the country. In 2020, Minnesotan had a turnout of nearly 80% which was the highest state by a significant amount. 61% came to the polls for the 2022 Midterms in Minnesota which ranked third in the U.S.
Polling places will be open 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Election Day, November 7. You can find more details here.
In Tuesday's Part Two of Behind the Ballot, WCCO's Susie Jones will look at a few of the state's high-profile mayoral races.