Scott County absentee ballots up 700 percent since 2016

Prior Lake American

Absentee ballots came in to Scott County in much higher numbers for Tuesday’s primary eleciton.

When all the votes were counted at the end of the primaries in 2016, Scott County had 263 absentee ballots. As of Tuesday morning, the county had received 1,780 absentee ballots, an increase of 677 percent.

By the end of the night, Scott County received 1,844 absentee ballots, an increase of 701 percent.

In 2016, the county sent out more than 700 absentee ballots to those who requested them. This year, the county sent out more than 2,000.

On election day, 16,594 people voted, County Auditor Cindy Geis said, which is about 20 percent of registered voters.

Geis said most counties experienced a 150 percent increase in absentee primary ballots from 2016 to 2018 and she thinks the higher number in Scott County was due to the Scott County sheriff race and the House District 55A race for state Rep. Bob Loonan’s seat. Loonan was not endorsed by Republicans this year, and challenged Erik Mortensen of Shakopee for the seat.

“I truly feel it’s because of the House representative race ... that’s one of the reasons but we’ve seen an increase in our precincts across the board and I think that’s because we have a primary with candidates for sheriff and they are out campaigning hard,” Geis said. “All the other races on our ballot are the same that most other counties have ... I really don’t think those are the races that are causing the people to come to the polls.”

Another reason for increased absentee ballots might be due to “no excuse absentee voting,” which was legalized four years ago allowing Minnesota residents to vote up to 46 days before the election without explaining why an absentee ballot is necessary, Geis said.

“Voters are finding it easy to come to the county and vote any time in the 46 days before the election,” she said. “I think that’s a reason we’re seeing an uptick in our numbers.”

As far as physical turnout, Geis said she expected a 35 to 40 percent increase from the 2016 primaries, again due to the House and sheriff races.