Voters energized and heading to the polls in Minneapolis and Moorhead
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Voters expressed a sense of urgency while heading to the polls on Tuesday.
In Moorhead, voters from all political affiliations said they’re happy about the high turnouts.
Dennis Wiesenborn, 68, voted at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church Tuesday morning. He usually votes Democrat and feels particularly motivated to stay the course after two years of the Trump administration.
“I think the war against Iran was a big mistake. All of the things to undo efforts for more clean energy, more environmental protections. Those are some of the things I really care about,” Wiesenborn said.
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For Republicans, the big issue of the day was fraud. Ritchie Sellden said he’s sometimes voted for Democrats in the past. But he said now the state government needs a shakeup because of how it handled fraud.
“Why should I pay taxes to people that are going to let the money spill out, and we lost it now. Now, who's going to reimburse that?” Sellden said. “People that are in there now had their chances. They goofed up. Time to get rid of them.”
At the Hjemkomst Center in Moorhead, an election official described voter turnout as having “peaks and valleys.” While there were no lines, there were people heading in to vote.
Even though there was no rush to the polling place doors, a record number of Minnesotans have already voted. In Clay County, more than 9,000 early ballots were submitted as of Tuesday morning, compared to a little more than 6,000 absentee and mailed ballots in 2022.
In Minneapolis, voters shattered the previous record for early voting. Leading up to Election Day, more than 75,000 residents cast early and absentee ballots. The previous record, set in 2018, was about 52,000 early votes.
Donna Moreno, 79, cast her ballot Tuesday morning at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She said she tried to vote early on Monday but the line was too long, so she came out early on Election Day to make sure she was able to vote.
Moreno said she is concerned about the direction of the country and hopeful that Democrats would turn it around. One of her concerns was having financial security as a senior retiree.
“It's scary, especially when you become a senior,” Moreno said. “I mean, I don't work anymore. And is what I've saved going to be enough?”
Chris Chapman, a 63-year-old retired software engineer, said there was one specific issue that brought him to the polls.
“My one motivation is to keep Trump’s impact out of Minnesota,” said Chapman, who added that he used to be nonpartisan but has shifted his voting strategy over the past decade to trying to keep Republicans out of office.
“That’s my objective because I think every Republican candidate for any office is going to be manipulated by Donald J. Trump and I just want to make sure he doesn’t have control over our state,” he said.
