Staff photo by Fritz Busch A voting regisration table is located outside the Brown County Auditor/Treasurers Office in the Brown County Courthouse second floor.

NEW ULM — Absentee voters walked into and out of the Brown County Auditor-Treasurers Office to cast their ballots Friday.

“Absentee voting that began Sept. 20 has been very steady. With a presidential election, there is always high voter turnout,” said Brown County Auditor-Treasurer (AT) Kelly Hotovec.

As of Thursday, Oct. 24, 379 Brown County voters cast in-person, absentee votes directly into ballot counters. In addition, 2,045 absentee and mail ballots were accepted in the Brown County AT office since Sept. 20.

Direct balloting, an alternative in-person absentee voting procedure where voters can choose to cast their ballots directly into a ballot counter, began Friday, Oct. 18 and continues through Monday, Nov. 4, the day before Election Day.

Expanded voting hours begin Saturday, Oct. 26, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the AT office. Expanded voting hours continue 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29 and Nov. 2, plus Sunday, Nov. 3 and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 4.

On Election Day, most polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. The township precincts of Burnstown, North Star, Bashaw, Eden and Leavenworth, are open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day.

In the first five weeks of voting statewide, local election officials distributed 878,931 absentee and mail ballots. County, city, and township election officials accepted 565,909 ballots as of Oct. 24.

Nearly 300,000 ballots have not yet been returned. Minnesotans are encouraged to return their ballots to their local election office as soon as possible by mail or in-person to ensure their vote is counted.

All ballots must be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day to be counted.

Minnesotans can track their ballot at mnvotes.gov/track.

“More than half a million Minnesotans have already made their voices heard in this Election,” said Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon. “Election Day is just around the corner. If you haven’t already voted, now is the time to make your plan to vote.”

To be eligible to vote, a person must be 18 or older by Election Day, a U.S. Citizen, a resident of Minnesota for at least 20 days, not currently incarcerated for a felony conviction, and not under a court order that revokes your right to vote.

Minnesotans can still register to vote on Election Day, if needed.

For more information, visit www.co.brown.mn.us and www.sos.state.mn.us/.