Polk County is preparing for a big election year with the hopes of getting some new equipment through a grant from the Office of the Secretary of State for Minnesota. The Polk County Commissioners recently approved an application to apply for the grant, which, if successful, would replace the County’s aging assistive election equipment.
Polk County also received the grant in 2018 explains Director of Property Records Michelle Cote. “In 2018, we applied for the grant and used those funds to purchase tabulators, and electronic poll pads in addition to our central count machine that we use to tabulate absentee and mail ballots,” said Cote. “This time around, we are looking forward to purchasing assistive device equipment which will replace our aging AutoMARK, which is a very large machine, not as reliable as we’d like it to be and so large it takes two people to lift. The new machines are much smaller and easier to move. We still have 25 precincts in Polk County that maintain polling places, so we need to ensure those voters that need assistive devices have one that is working properly.”
Cote’s staff will handle four elections this year, including the Presidential Primary in March. Voters will need to declare their party to vote in the primary, according to Cote. “2020 is a very big year for us as we the P-N-P, presidential nomination primary,” said Cote. “It is on March 3. One of the things that we are thinking about, which is difficult to plan for is what do we do if we have a weather event that day. We are in the process of proofing the ballot. When voters come to vote in the presidential nomination primary, they will need to choose their party. There are four major parties in Minnesota. Two are participating in the primary – Democrats and Republicans. So, those people wishing to vote in this election will need to declare their party to receive the appropriate ballot.”
Cote said the staff would have a quick turnaround with township elections the week after the primary, followed by elections in both August and November. “We also have March Township elections the week after, which poses some logistical hurdles for us,” said Cote. “Getting in voter history, rosters, new registrants, so we have some logistical hurdles because the two elections are so close together. Absentee voting begins on January 16, which is 46 days out from the election. I’m guardedly hopeful we will have ballots at that time. I anticipate that our mail ballots will go in the mail properly a week later, which is well within our statutory time to do so. We are rocking and rolling in our election year, to say the least. Our next two elections will be the regular primary in August and the general election in November.”
Usually, the county has to estimate how many voters will turn out at elections to order ballots. If they order too many, they spend more than necessary on the election, but having too few ballots also has its challenges. Due to the timing of the grant, the first election the county could have the new equipment by is the August Primary Election. Cote said that one benefit of the new equipment would be the ability to print additional ballots on demand. “As a part of the process when we order ballots, we have to take an educated guess as to what our voter turnout will be,” said Cote. “Each election cycle that can vary – whether it’s a presidential year or not, whether our political environment is turbulent or not. Sometimes, the more turbulence we have, the more people we have driven to the polls, so we need to account for that. There are statutory methods in place if a polling place does run out. It becomes sort of a manual process and not one we like to undertake. One of the nice advantages of the new machine is it can print ballots on-demand on ballot paper stock. That could allow us to order less.”
2020 ELECTIONS
March 3 – Presidential Nomination Primary
March 10 – Township Elections
August 11 – Primary Election
November 3 – General Election
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