Photos: Minnesota voters head to the polls

Election Day begins at Martin Luther King Rec. Ctr.
Election Day begins at Martin Luther King Recreation Center in St. Paul.
Caroline Yang for MPR News

Voters across Minnesota headed to the polls Tuesday morning, many of them standing in long lines well before their polling places were scheduled to open.

Many people have already cast their votes. Secretary of State Steve Simon told MPR News that the number of early voters had surged late Monday, bringing the total to more than 650,000. Four years ago, Simon said, the total of early voters was 267,000. Minnesota law has been liberalized to allow voters to cast absentee ballots without having to attest that they would be away or unavailable on Election Day.

The high-drama presidential race brought many people to the polls. There is also a high-stakes fight for control of the Legislature, and some congressional races around the Twin Cities suburbs and in northeastern Minnesota have yielded millions of dollars in attack ads.

Also on the ballot is a constitutional amendment that would create an independent panel to set lawmaker pay.

Correction (Nov. 8, 2016): An earlier version of this story misidentified the school of the student voters.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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