Brown County Auditor-Treasurer Jean Prochniak said on Tuesday morning that courthouse voting for township voters and absentee precinct voting lines have been manageable.

“We have all votes tabulated through Nov. 2, so the only ones left are what comes in today,” said Prochniak. “We sent out more than 10,000 absentee/mail ballots for this election and accounted for 88% of them at this time.”

Prochniak said 5,859 voters from New Ulm, Sleepy Eye, Springfield and Comfrey requested absentee ballots. As of Tuesday morning, 5,118 of the absentee ballots were accepted.

Perhaps the challengers for Sleepy Eye City Council and mayoral seats drew residents to vote.

Staff photo by Clay Schuldt New Ulm residents headed to the polls Tuesday. All four polling locations reported a high turnout the moment voting opened at 7 a.m. Voting continued to be high throughout the day and was similar to past elections, which was a surprise due to higher early voting and absentee ballots. The only difference between past elections was that everyone wore a mask to vote.

Brent “The Zoo Man” Mielke posted on Facebook that he waited in line to vote for about 20 minutes at the Sleepy Eye Event Center.

“It was a good turnout. I’m glad I got I got the chance to vote today,” said Mielke.

Ward 2 voting at the New Ulm Community Center slowed a bit by early afternoon.

“I like to vote in person. It’s Election Day,” said Floyd Dorn of New Ulm after he voted at the New Ulm Community Center.

“People should vote in person. That’s the way it was supposed to be,” said Tom Williamson.

Staff photo by Clay Schuldt New Ulm residents headed to the polls Tuesday. All four polling locations reported a high turnout the moment voting opened at 7 a.m. Voting continued to be high throughout the day and was similar to past elections, which was a surprise due to higher early voting and absentee ballots. The only difference between past elections was that everyone wore a mask to vote.

Salena Williamson agreed.

Denise Saari mailed in her ballot but her husband opted to vote in person, while she waited in their vehicle.

“I preferred going in to vote,” said Greg Juhnke.

Another Ward 2 voter said they heard stories about people getting into mailboxes, so they preferred to vote at the polling place.

Most of the afternoon polling place voting was taking place for Ward 3 at the New Ulm Civic Center.

Staff photo by Clay Schuldt New Ulm residents headed to the polls Tuesday. All four polling locations reported a high turnout the moment voting opened at 7 a.m. Voting continued to be high throughout the day and was similar to past elections, which was a surprise due to higher early voting and absentee ballots. The only difference between past elections was that everyone wore a mask to vote.

“I thought about it (absentee ballot), but I didn’t get around to it,” said Nate Groebner after he voted at the Civic Center.

“I’d rather vote in person. I like the personal touch,” said Jeff Folkens.

Carol Fluegge said the New Ulm Civic Center is close to where she lives, so that’s where she wanted to vote.

“I’ve done it this way my whole life, so I’d just as soon do it in person,” said Jeannie Cordes.

A man said he thought about casting an absentee ballot but wanted to make sure it gets counted, so he voted in person.

Staff photo by Clay Schuldt New Ulm residents headed to the polls Tuesday. All four polling locations reported a high turnout the moment voting opened at 7 a.m. Voting continued to be high throughout the day and was similar to past elections, which was a surprise due to higher early voting and absentee ballots. The only difference between past elections was that everyone wore a mask to vote.

Fritz Busch can be e-mailed at fbusch@nujournal.com.

Staff photo by Clay Schuldt New Ulm residents headed to the polls Tuesday. All four polling locations reported a high turnout the moment voting opened at 7 a.m. Voting continued to be high throughout the day and was similar to past elections, which was a surprise due to higher early voting and absentee ballots. The only difference between past elections was that everyone wore a mask to vote.

Staff photo by Clay Schuldt New Ulm residents headed to the polls Tuesday. All four polling locations reported a high turnout the moment voting opened at 7 a.m. Voting continued to be high throughout the day and was similar to past elections, which was a surprise due to higher early voting and absentee ballots. The only difference between past elections was that everyone wore a mask to vote.

Staff photo by Clay Schuldt New Ulm residents headed to the polls Tuesday. All four polling locations reported a high turnout the moment voting opened at 7 a.m. Voting continued to be high throughout the day and was similar to past elections, which was a surprise due to higher early voting and absentee ballots. The only difference between past elections was that everyone wore a mask to vote.