'No excuse' absentee balloting starts today
Absentee voting starts in most places around Minnesota today. For the first time in a general election, voters won't need an excuse for voting absentee.
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A law change means Minnesotans don't have to come with a reason to explain why they're voting absentee instead of on Election Day at their local precinct.
"I know from people stopping me on the street or at the State Fair just how thankful people are that they don't have to twist and turn and make up a story or possibly lie on a form just because they needed to vote absentee," said Secretary of State Mark Ritchie. "That was kind of an old fashioned thing."
While most of the early voting begins today, Ritchie says some local governments already started their absentee ballot programs. He says the law states that all counties must offer early voting at least 46 days before the election.
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