You may be aware of Minnesota’s new “no excuses” absentee voting law that allows you to vote in person during regular business hours as many as 46 days before the election. But most people are not aware of a provision of the law that allows you to vote in person on the Saturday before the election. And in case you’re not aware of it, Minnesota’s primary election is Tuesday, August 9. So you can can cast an in-person absentee ballot this Saturday, August 6.
The law requires each county’s election office to be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. so you can vote. Saturday voting is even more convenient in 12 of Minnesota’s more populous counties where there are multiple offices open — many of them at city halls.
Counties with multiple voting locations are Anoka, Cass, Dakota, Goodhue, Hennepin, McLeod, Ramsey, Saint Louis, Sterns, Wabasha, Washington and Wright counties. Click here for the exact locations.
In-person absentee voting is very much like voting on election day. You fill out your ballot, insert it into the machine and it is recorded right on the spot. You can find out what is on your primary ballot by clicking here and entering your zip code and address.
Statewide race on primary ballot
No matter where you live in Minnesota there is a contested primary race on the ballot. Three people are running for a Minnesota Supreme Court seat. Justice Natalie Hudson is a recent appointee standing for election to a full six-year term. She is being challenged by attorneys Michelle L. MacDonald and Craig Foss. A recent poll of the members of the Minnesota State Bar Association showed an overwhelming preference for Justice Hudson over her challengers.
MacDonald’s name may be familiar to voters. She ran for Minnesota Supreme Court in 2014 with the endorsement of the Republican party. (The Minnesota DFL does not endorse candidates for non-partisan court races.) MacDonald was endorsed after giving a speech where she held a bible over her head and said it was impossible to govern “without God and the bible”.
Republicans then blocked her from appearing at their state fair booth after it was revealed she was facing a DWI charge. She filed a complaint against the party and lost in court and also was convicted of obstructing justice for refusing to take a breathalyzer test.
This year Republicans opted not to endorse MacDonald or anyone else for the Supreme Court race.
It’s Michelle MacDonald. Michael …bibles used to be in every courtroom. Why is media making fun of my speaking about God’s existence in our lives? Thank you UPTAKE for preserving the speech. I received a standing ovation from thousands that day. I held a bible over my head to demonstrate where the tradition of “all rise!” when a Judge enters the courtroom comes from: Judges used to hold bibles over their heads.
Also, you can attribute the words —— it is impossible to govern the world without God and the bible —to me, but I gave our founding father, George Washington the credit. I did not anticipate your video to go viral to mock and ridicule. In my acceptance speech I asked God to bless America again. God knows we need it.
Also a correction: I did not get convicted of obstruction of “justice. ” I experience first hand in my unfortunate ordeal about stacking charges, police and prosecutors custom of ignoring the existence of exonerating evidence, and that you can’t even peacefully resist an UNLAWFUL arrest , even where your “immediate”right to see a Judge is ignored. After my traffic stop, I immediately gave police and the prosecutor medical evidence of ZERO alcohol. Our system is often not concerned with the truth, or our civil rights and liberties. It takes the courage of a trial to be completely exonerated, but judges and juries are scary, so people are pressured, even coerced, by those in the system to plead guilty of behaviors that do not constitute crimes. Consistently omitted by the press is that I was found NOT GUILTY of DUI by a jury, and my only infractions before that 2013 traffic stop was in 2004 -2005, a parking ticket and failure to register a boat. I do not regret incorporating God and the bible into my daily life, or my speech. I look forward to votes on Tuesday, August 9 in the primaries for Supreme Court.