The latest: Minnesota primary election

Polls have closed across Minnesota.

The first results are expected shortly after 8 p.m.

We're watching primaries for U.S. Senate, governor, attorney general, secretary of state, state auditor, four congressional districts, the Hennepin County Attorney race and 11 legislative races where incumbents face challenges from within their own party.

Reminder: early results can shift as ballots are counted. We'll update as races develop.

At Burger Moe's in St. Paul, House Speaker Lisa Demuth greeted dozens of people gathered in a back patio era. "Lisa Demuth for governor" signs and American flags, along with blue and red flower arrangements were placed on tables.

And campaign volunteers posed for photos and made last-minute phone calls to voters to get out before the deadline to cast a ballot.

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Polls close at 8 p.m. If you're in line by then, you can still vote, so stay in line.

Results will start coming in shortly after polls close. Follow along here tonight.

About 250,000 Minnesotans voted early this year, a strong showing that suggests both interest in the high-profile August primary this year and comfort with options to cast ballots ahead of Election Day.

The statistics from the Secretary of State's Office, as of 3 p.m. Tuesday, are a record for a non-presidential primary year. It would be an all-time record if not for the surge in remote and early voting in 2020 during COVID-19.

Minnesota has expanded its early voting options over the last couple of decades. Voters used to have to claim a legitimate excuse for requesting an absentee ballot, ranging from health reasons to work travel to military service to acting as an election judge outside of the precinct.

Now, Minnesota has no-excuse absentee balloting. There are also more in-person voting options at local elections offices, which have been expanded in this election, too.

The primary election is underway in Minnesota, and the results will determine what candidates will advance to the November ballot this fall.

MPR News host Clay Masters spoke with Abou Amara, a Democratic political analyst and Twin Cities attorney, and Preya Samsundar, another political analyst and GOP strategist, about why the primary serves as a good test run for the November election.

“This really could be anybody's game,” Samsundar said. “It really kind of depends on where Minnesota Republicans want to move forward with, and I think that’s what I’m really watching for tonight.”

“I’m going to be looking obviously in the second congressional district,” Amara said. “There’s a competitive primary on the Democratic side, and it has every strain of the Democratic Party that's represented in that race.”

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

Minnesotans are voting in Tuesday’s primary to narrow the fields for governor, U.S. Senate and other state and local races for the November general election.

72-year-old retiree Cindy Hatfield of Moorhead voted in the Republican primary for House Speaker Lisa Demuth for governor and former sports broadcaster Michele Tafoya for U.S. Senate.

“Agriculture is a big one for me,” Hatfield said. “A lot of the power is down in the Cities so it's hard for, say, farmers and stuff to have good representation.”

25-year-old paint store manager Isaiah Wayne-Davis of Austin cast a Democratic ballot for Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan for Senate.

“More than convinced that Medicare for all and dipping out with Israel's genocide in Palestine is extremely necessary.”

For a ballot to count, you can only vote in one party’s primary.

Kyle Wagers of Moorhead said he was not happy with how U.S. politics have been playing out in the past decades. "We are in a two-party dictatorship. Really, these two parties own us," he said.

The U.S. relationship with Israel is a major issue for Wagers, who wants the U.S. to cut off military aid to the country. He described himself as a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA, which has logged multiple primary victories recently.

"I hope the DSA does take over the Democratic Party and gets rid of the Democratic Party because they're not representing us,” he added. “They're representing their corporate donors and Israel."

Fifty-six-year-old Jennifer Ek, who owns a painting company in Mankato, says she was motivated by her concern over the presence of federal immigration agents in her city earlier this year.

"I also am very concerned about AI centers in general, but specifically in Mankato. And I guess just affordability for everybody to be able to live, eat, have a place to live,” Ek said.

Another Mankato resident, Becca Stidham, 39, voted in her first primary on Tuesday.

Stidham, a cook for a senior living center, said she was concerned about immigration, rising living costs and cuts to healthcare, which spurred her to vote.

Voters across the state are heading to the polls for Tuesday’s primary election.

In Moorhead, 76-year-old Mary Rice voted for Democrats. She says the issues important to her include Social Security and universal healthcare because she has family members struggling to keep their insurance.

“The way this administration has been handling anything and everything — it's suppressing us as a country, as a people, not listening to what we want and so I feel that we need to make a change,” Rice said.

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In Rochester, nurse Ashleigh Mohrbacher cast a Republican ballot, saying she's concerned about public safety, the cost of living and immigration.

“I love having diversity in Rochester, but I do think it affects everybody if it's done illegally,” Mohrbacher said.

Polls are open until 8 p.m.

The Minnesota Secretary of State’s office says more than 206,000 absentee and mail ballots were accepted at local election offices as of Monday morning.

That’s a state record for a primary in a nonpresidential election year.

State officials noted there were also more than 213,000 ballots requested, but not yet returned. To be counted, those absentee and mail ballots need to be returned by 5 p.m. on Election Day to the election office they were sent from.

Voters who requested but have not returned absentee ballots can also choose to vote at their local polling place instead.

In-person voting is open until 8 p.m. and as long as you're in line by 8 p.m., you can vote. You can find your polling place at the Secretary of State’s website.

The federal government is sending election monitors to the Twin Cities to observe the primary election Tuesday.

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon said the Department of Justice is sending monitors to ensure Minnesotans with disabilities or who speak languages other than English don’t face any barriers while voting.

“This has been done the last several election cycles under multiple presidents, including President Biden, and Minnesotans may well have voted at a polling place with a federal observer there and not even noticed a thing,” Simon said. “But I certainly understand why reports of agents of the federal government at the polls would alarm people, especially here in Minnesota.”

Simon said the DOJ asked Hennepin and Ramsey counties to let the monitors inside polling places, but the counties declined. The monitors will have to stay 100 feet from polling locations and voters do not have to speak to them. Simon said his office will be working with the Attorney General’s Office to monitor the federal observers.

He said federal monitors have observed primaries in other states without incident.

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said the DOJ said it planned to focus on Brooklyn Park, Brooklyn Center and Minneapolis, but may visit other cities.

Tuesday is primary election day in Minnesota.

Voters have two main ways to vote Tuesday. If you were mailed an absentee ballot but haven't yet returned it, skip the post office and turn it in by 5 p.m. at the office that sent it. If you vote in person, you have a little more time; polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

State Director of Elections Paul Linnell says you can watch the unofficial results roll in at mnvotes.org.

"In many counties, results are uploaded in batches of precincts after all absentee vote counting is completed,” Linnell said. “It should not be surprising to see results posted for just a small number of precincts in the early hours after the polls close on election night, and then have several precinct results added all at once after absentee counting is finished."

We should know winners by Wednesday morning.