Minnesota Votes
November 3, 2026
The general election
Photo: Dave Madgett • DuluthThe general election
Photo: Dave Madgett • DuluthEvery date on this page was computed from Minnesota's election statutes and is cited to the section it comes from. No campaign spin, no partisan framing, and nothing you have to take on faith. If a date here ever conflicts with your county auditor or the Secretary of State, they administer the election and they win. Tell us and we will fix it.
Starting September 18, walk into your county auditor's office and vote. No excuse required. This is the shortest line you will ever stand in.
Request a ballot any time up to the day before the election. Minnesota does not make you give a reason.
November 3, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. You can register right there at the polls if you bring the right thing.
| Date | What happens | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, September 18 | Absentee voting in person opens You can vote in person at your county auditor's office starting 46 days before the election, no excuse needed. | Minn. Stat. § 203B.081, subd. 1 |
| Tuesday, October 13 | Last day to register in advance After this, you register at the polling place instead. Nothing is lost either way. | Minn. Stat. § 201.061, subd. 1 |
| Saturday, October 24 | County offices open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The first of two required Saturdays before a general election. | Minn. Stat. § 203B.085, subd. 1 |
| Tuesday, October 27 | County offices open until 7 p.m. Required evening hours the Tuesday before the election. | Minn. Stat. § 203B.085, subd. 1 |
| Saturday, October 31 | County offices open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The second required Saturday. | Minn. Stat. § 203B.085, subd. 1 |
| Sunday, November 1 | County offices open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Required Sunday hours immediately before the election. | Minn. Stat. § 203B.085, subd. 1 |
| Monday, November 2 | Last day to vote absentee in person; offices open until 5 p.m. Also the last day an absentee ballot application can be submitted, which the statute allows up to one day before the election. | Minn. Stat. § 203B.085, subd. 1; § 203B.04, subd. 1 |
| Tuesday, November 3 | Election Day. Polls open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. If you are in line at 8 p.m., you get to vote. Someone who arrives after 8 p.m. does not. | Minn. Stat. § 204C.05, subds. 1 and 2 |
Dates are calculated from the statutory periods: the general election falls on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November (Minn. Stat. § 204D.03, subd. 2), in-person absentee voting runs the 46 days before it, and advance registration closes before the 20th day preceding it. A separate early-voting provision (Minn. Stat. § 203B.081, subd. 1a) would open an 18-day window, but it takes effect only when the Revisor receives an early-voting certification, and we could not confirm that has happened. The 46-day absentee window above does not depend on it. Small towns outside the metro may open their polls later than 7 a.m., but never later than 10 a.m.
Missing the October 13 deadline costs you nothing. Minnesota lets you register at your polling place on Election Day (Minn. Stat. § 201.061, subd. 3). You just have to prove where you live. Any one of these does it:
The statute lists more options than most people realize, and the Secretary of State keeps the current approved list. Check your registration, find your polling place, see your sample ballot, and track an absentee ballot with the state's official tools:
Those are the Secretary of State's own pages. This site does not collect your address, your registration, or anything else.
This is the most useful sentence in Minnesota election law and almost nobody knows it. Under Minn. Stat. § 204C.04, subd. 1, every employee eligible to vote has the right to be absent from work for the time necessary to get to the polling place, vote, and come back — without penalty or deduction from salary or wages. It applies on Election Day and during the in-person absentee period. An employer may not "directly or indirectly refuse, abridge, or interfere with" it.
You do not have to use vacation. You do not have to make up the hours. If an employer tells you otherwise, that is the statute they are contradicting.
Seven sourced guides to the statewide races and Hennepin County Attorney. The editorial standard is the same one that governs everything here: objective facts and law, every statement sourced or omitted, positions attributed to whoever holds them and never asserted as neutral fact. The guides make no endorsements, and where the publisher has a conflict, the guide says so at the top.
Klobuchar and Schierer (DFL), Demuth and Wilson (R), Young and Kirby (Green)
An open seat: Flanagan, Tafoya, Whiting, Simonetti
Ellison against Schutz, with the publisher's conflict disclosed
Simon, Jude, Kuhl-Stennes, Tangen
An open seat: Filipovich, Jensen, Reeves
An open seat: Frazier against Folk, with the endorsement disclosed
Ballot access, deadlines, and public subsidies, every statute cited
The rest of this site is research, not persuasion: the Minnesota Dashboard for the numbers behind the arguments, Minnesota by the Numbers for the sourced series, Who the Law Helps, Who It Hurts for how the laws land differently on different people, and The Receipts if you would rather skip the writing and check the sources yourself.
Corrections, including to any date on this page: campaign@madgettformn.com. Election administration is run by your county auditor and the Minnesota Secretary of State; this is an independent guide, not an official one.