The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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November 1, 2008

A primer for first-time voters

Minnesota allows registration at the polls

By Dan Linehan

MANKATO — First-time voter Andrew Peterson has the I.D., he’s picked up the form early and he knows where to vote, but the 22-year-old Mankatoan still doesn’t know what to expect on Election Day.

“Everything to me is new,” he said after stopping by the Blue Earth County license center last week in an attempt to register to vote. Pre-registration is closed, but Peterson was able to pick up a form that will make same-day registration go a bit faster.

“It’d just be nice to know what to expect,” he said.

Getting prepared

To register on Election Day, a voter in Minnesota must prove their identity and their place of current residence, said Patty O’Connor, head of elections at Blue Earth County.

A driver’s license (it can be expired) with a current address satisfies both of those requirements. A yellow receipt also works instead of a card if it shows a current address.

A driver’s license or a state-issued I.D. card with a past address works along with proof of current address.

Typically, a utility bill — cable, cell phone, gas, electric, water, sewer, garbage, satellite, etc. — is used, but it has to be due within 30 days of the election. Bills paid online can be printed out with a personal computer.

A student tuition statement with current address or a rent statement with itemized utilities also can be used.

If you can’t get a utility bill with your address on it, vouching is an option.

A voter can be accompanied to the polls by a registered voter in the precinct. People can’t vouch for each other; the person doing the vouching has to show residency through documents.

To find your polling place, go to http://pollfinder.sos.state.mn.us/ or call the Blue Earth County elections office at 507-304-4341. Nicollet County residents can call 507-934-0345.

Get your vote on

The polls are busiest at 7 a.m. when they open, around noon for lunch and at about 4:30 p.m., O’Connor said. She recommends voting in mid-morning or mid-afternoon.

Polls open at 10 a.m. in some small townships — Cambria, Judson, Lyra, Pleasant Mound, Shelby and Sterling townships in Blue Earth County and Traverse, New Sweden and Brighton townships in Nicollet County.

Minnesota law allows residents to take time off work on the morning of Election Day without loss of salary or wages.

Once you enter the polling place, there should be a greeter judge, at least in the Blue Earth County precincts.

If you need to register, there will be a table and election judges specifically for that task.

The application is brief and can be completed in a few minutes. One of the lines requests a driver’s license number or the last four digits of your Social Security number.

The registration judge will give the voter a small receipt, which the voter will give to the ballot election judge in exchange for a ballot.

If the voter makes a mistake on the ballot, they may get a new one.

The filled-out ballot is placed in a machine that scans it (don’t worry, it looks like a paper shredder, but it’s not) and tallies up votes for the various races. At this point, a judge typically hands out red “I Voted” stickers.

Machines that mark the ballot for the voter are available to help blind or deaf people — or anyone else who would like to use it, disabled or not — to vote.

Polls close at 8 p.m., though everyone who is in line at this point is allowed to vote.

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