Photo by Clay Schuldt Polling places in the 1st Congressional District on Tuesday — like the New Ulm Civic Center in Ward 3 — collected votes for two separate elections, the Minnesota Primary Election and the 1st Congressional District Special Election for the remaining three months of the late Jim Hagedorn’s seat in Congress. To complicate matters, the primary election for the next full term of the 1st Congressional District seat was one of the races on the primary ballot.

Confusion reigned during the unique election Tuesday for southern Minnesota, as the state primary was held at the same time as 1st Congressional District voters selected a congressman to fill the unexpired term of the late Jim Hagedorn.

• Voters were able to find their polling place without a problem, but the ballot was confusing for some as it included primary voting and special election voting. Voters were asked to choose a candidate to finished the unexpired term of Rep. Hagedorn, but were also asked to choose to vote in the party primary for the U.S. House District 1.

• On the primary side of the ballot, voters needed to select candidates in a single party, but some voters accidentally voted in multiple parties resulting in spoiled ballots. As of 5:30 p.m. Ward 3 had more than 50 spoiled ballots. In most spoiled ballot cases, the voter realized the mistake and was able to request a new ballot. Other times the voting machine would catch the error if the ballot was filled out improperly.

• The polls opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday in New Ulm. Election judges at all four polling sites reported a slow but steady turnout.

The wards were averaging close to two voters every minutes in the early morning hours.

Ward 1 had exactly 94 voters as of 9:44 a.m.

Ward 4 saw 130 voters going through Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, 1400 S. State St. by 10 a.m.

Ward 3 saw the highest early voter turnout. Over 165 voters had voted at Christ the King Lutheran Church, 1515 N. Garden St. by 10:10 a.m. This is the first time Christ the King was used for the Ward 3 polling location.

Ward 2, located at New Ulm Community Center, 600 N. German St. saw the slowest voting start with only 92 voters by 10:15 a.m.

Based on past experience, local election judges expected voting to pick up around 5 p.m. once voters got off work, but none could say if turnout would by high or low.

• Primary elections typically have lower turnout, but this year’s primary includes a Special Election for Minnesota’s First Congressional District.

Since there is a special election and a primary for the First Congressional District that was concern voters would be confused on how to fill out the ballot.

Ward 3 head election judge Heather Bregel confirmed there were a higher than normal spoiled ballots. Voters were instructed to vote for a single party during the primary vote, but some marked candidates in multiple party columns resulting in a spoiled ballot.