Get Your Ballot Counted: Appeals Court Rules Mail-In Ballots Arriving After Election Day Could Be Invalidated

The Minnesota Secretary of State says it's too late to mail in your ballot if you want to make sure your vote counts. After an appeals court ruling that says mail-in ballots arriving after election day could be invalidated, local election judges are scrambling making sure voters know these new rules. 

ST. LOUIS COUNTY – The Minnesota Secretary of State says it’s too late to mail in your ballot if you want to make sure your vote counts. After an appeals court ruling that says mail-in ballots arriving after election day could be invalidated, local election judges are scrambling making sure voters know these new rules.

Leaders from the City of Duluth and St. Louis County are working to get the word out so your ballot is counted.

Duluth City Clerk Chelsea Helmer says if you still have an absentee ballot at home, you must now drop it off by hand at an election office or official dropbox and not use the mail to return it.

Those ballots must be returned by 3 p.m. November 3rd and cannot be returned to polling locations on election day.

“So what we really want to encourage voters to do is just to get your ballots in as soon as possible. If you choose not to cast that ballot, go to your polling location on election day,” said Helmer.

In Duluth, as of this morning, 23,000 have cast their ballots, which equals about 40% of registered voters in the city shattering all previous records.

The St. Louis County Auditor’s Office has also been busy encouraging anyone who was planning to vote through the mail but hasn’t yet to hand-deliver their ballot.

Currently, St. Louis County has about 10,000 ballots that have been sent out but not yet returned. So far nearly 50,000 have voted absentee in St. Louis County.

“We’re encouraging, if people are a little worried as how quick their mail is going to get back to us we’re encouraging people to vote in-person,” said Phil Chapman, the deputy auditor, supervisor of elections. “You know, drop their absentee ballot off in person to make sure their voice is heard.”

And the auditor’s office says voters can deliver their early ballot by hand to the issuing jurisdiction or the county auditor’s office. The St. Louis County Auditor’s Office in Duluth and Virginia will be open extended hours for absentee voting on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on Monday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

You can also vote early from 8 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Duluth City Hall and 8 to 5 p.m. Monday.

You can always vote in-person on election day as well.