My ballot has been counted! Track your MN ballot.

[BainsBane]

My ballot was caste and counted! I'm excited to have my ballot officially on the books for Joe Biden.

As an FYI, you can track your Minnesota mail-in ballot or early vote at mnvotes.org
https://www.sos.state.mn.us/elections-voting/

It shows you that the ballot was received and counted. You just need to remember if you used your state ID or SS# when you applied for and filled out the ballot since they aren't interchangable.

[progree]

1. I wasn't so lucky: "Your ballot was accepted on October 22, 2020 and will be counted."

It will be counted, but hasn't been yet.

Minnesota has started counting the early and mail-in votes (dunno how long that will last). And it will accept ballots postmarked by Nov 3 up until Nov 10 (the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to weigh in on the latter this week).

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/10/26/minnesota-ballot-count-is-on-but-for-how-long

.... [processing the mail-in ballots] It’s a time-intensive process. ... [somewhat described in the article]

Deputy Elections Manager Heather Bestler [in Ramsey County, MN] said if the counties didn’t have two weeks to do it — an extra week than normal this year — it would have been a big problem, given the volume of people voting by mail. In her county, 130,000 votes have been cast already.

“It would not have been possible to process,” Bestler said. “We don’t know what the ultimate count will be for the number of absentee ballots but there wouldn’t have been enough time or space to process that many ballots in the usually allotted time.”

The tallies themselves won’t happen until polls close on Election

... The ballots are verified and scanned into software that will automatically begin counting the vote at 8 p.m. on election night

In neighboring Wisconsin, none of those ballots can be processed until Election Day.

Then describes the long canvassing process to check the tallies ...

But if the Supremist Court arbitrarily and capriciously shuts down the counting when it looks like it might go the "wrong" way, like they did in Florida in 2000.... or is simply taking "too" long... as determined by the majority of the Supremist Court ...

So maybe my ballot might be counted. Maybe not. All depends on what the Supremist Court decides

##################################

A more direct link to checking one's ballot status:

https://mnvotes.sos.state.mn.us/AbsenteeBallotStatusResult.aspx

[BainsBane]

2. but it will be counted

That's what matters. I voted on the very first day of early voting, so that may be why mine has already been counted.

[progree]

4. We shall see. Because they optimistically say it will be counted .... it is a long process

as the article points out.

I thought all the Florida votes would be counted in 2000. I was wrong. The Supremacist Court had other ideas.

Around here, Hillary was thought to be a shoo-in prior to late evening of Nov 8. Anybody who pointed to some close polls in some swing states was shouted down (at best) as a "concern troll".

"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future" - Yogi Berra

[BainsBane]

5. It should be counted before election night

and they are counting votes in MN now.

I know what you mean about the accusations of concern trolling. We see that this year as well. People just want to hear that everything is going great, yet few are willing to pitch in to make sure voters actually turn out.

[progree]

7. Assuming some freaking judge or judges don't rule early counting must stop

Although I haven't heard of anyone suing to stop it.

The rule or law or whatever in MN that allows ballots postmarked on or before Nov 3 to be accepted on or before Nov 10 is going to be dealt with by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals this week. (Would be outrageous if they changed it because, well, we're less than 7 days away).

I did research the Wisconsin thing prohibiting early counting ... it's a state law, apparently long-standing (so at least legislation like that won't get passed in MN anytime soon. As opposed to some stupid judge that can act virtually instantaneously).

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/solutions/2020/09/22/wisconsin-absentee-voting-surging-let-clerks-count-ballots-early/5864840002/

Editorial: Wisconsin should allow clerks to start counting absentee ballots before Election Day, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 9/22/20

... Wisconsin’s clerks have pushed for a change in state law that would allow them to open and place ballots into tabulator machines as they arrive in the mail. The tally would not be counted or disclosed until Election Day. Wisconsin law now requires them to wait until Election Day to begin counting.

Many states allow some form of early counting, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Colorado, for example, allows counting to begin 15 days before Election Day, according to the NCSL. North Carolina allows counting to begin two weeks early. States don’t release results until Election Day and typically levy harsh penalties on anyone who tries to leak the tally.

[BainsBane]

8. Wisconsin is a bad situation

because of the recent Supreme Court ruling.

The Biden campaign is recommending that no one mail in ballots at this point but rather drop them off at an early voting location. In fact, I don't even mention mail-in ballots when phone banking unless the caller brings it up. Then I tell them where they can drop it off, and I urge them to do it tomorrow.

[progree]

11. I had immense fears about in-person early voting because Golden Valley doesn't have a drop box

I requested both my primary and general election ballot by mail months ago.

For the general election, I sat on the ballot for weeks. Was hoping Golden Valley, MN would set up a drop box, but never did. I didn't want to mail it because of DeJoy and all that ...

so, though mad as hell that I'd have to go in-person and interact with people to apply for a new ballot and then vote it (though I had done all that at home long ago), I went to my early voting location at Golden Valley City Hall on Oct. 21 to at least check it out.

I brought my ballot that I had gotten in the mail, duly filled out and voted, enclosed in the privacy envelope which was enclosed in the signature envelope (filled out of course), which was enclosed in the mailing envelope -- so that it was ready to drop in the mail if I chose to do so except for sealing the envelopes ... in case I didn't like the scene at City Hall.

I arrived Wednesday around 1230p Oct 21 at Golden Valley City Hall -- not another soul there, besides the friendly lady at the desk in the voting area (masked, and with plexiglass from countertop to ceiling). I decided I wasn't going to get Covid there.

No problem with using my ballot that I had gotten in the mail. She gave me back the mailing envelope as she doesn't need. She sealed the signature envelope with a sponge-tipped liquid applier stick. (No problem that the ballot privacy envelope wasn't sealed, she said - she never looked at the ballot, BTW).

About 3 or 4 days later it was shown as "accepted and will be counted" or some such words at the MN SOS website (I have to key in some identifying information).

https://mnvotes.sos.state.mn.us/AbsenteeBallotStatusResult.aspx

I got the notion that I'd have to start over from scratch if I early-voted in person (fill out an application for a ballot and then fill out the ballot) from some MPR interview with S.O.S. Steve Simon -- he apparently interpreted the caller's question differently than I did.

[BainsBane]

12. Yeah, it's the exact same ballot

no difference whatsoever. I didn't realize that before I voted early this year either.
I decided to vote in person because I mistakenly thought mail-in ballots wouldn't be counted until after election night. But I was also excited to vote as soon as possible, so I did on Sept 16.

[progree]

9. "yet few are willing to pitch in to make sure voters actually turn out."

True. So true. Thank you for all the work you are doing. I'm glad to hear the success stories, e.g.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100214375317

to take just one example.

[BainsBane]

10. Thank you!

That was very gratifying.

[dflprincess]

3. Mine too

accepted October 14th and will be counted.

I suppose it's taking a while to feed them into the tabulators.

[BainsBane]

6. There are far more than usual

because it also includes early votes, which are tabulated along with mail-in ballots.