Days ahead of general election over half of Cook County voters have already cast their ballots

As Election Day approaches, the Cook County Auditor-Treasurer’s office, which oversees elections, is hard at work. While ballot counting is still days away, many voters have already returned their mail ballots.

Elections Administrator Cortnee Bernier told WTIP that as of Oct. 11, 2024, Cook County had 4,027 registered voters. 3,068 of those voters live in districts where residents vote by mail. The remaining 959 registered voters live within Grand Marais city limits, which allows them to vote in-person.

Bernier said that the county had already accepted 2,279 ballots. In recent general election years, Bernier said that the county has seen 3,200 to 3,800 ballots voted.

While ballots have already been accepted by the Auditor-Treasurer’s office, they cannot be counted until polls close at 8 p.m. on election day, Tuesday, Nov. 5.

Some of the staffing on election day will come from community election judges. Bernier said that there will be 42 judges working this year’s general election. She added that in order to maintain a balance in party representation for election judges, the county relies on the list of Unaffiliated judges, since many of the applicants in Cook County identify as DFL supporters.

Bernier told WTIP that “Every year we update and streamline our processes.” Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers told WTIP that he hopes that his office will have the results of local races available swiftly on election night.

Statewide, accepted early and mail ballots already number 989,807 as of Nov. 1, according to the Minnesota Secretary of State. While mail voting peaked during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown in 2020, the accepted ballots for 2024 already outnumber the 676,722 mail and absentee ballots accepted during the 2016 presidential election.

Once polls close and votes are counted, results for state races can be found on the Minnesota Secretary of State’s website. WTIP will also bring listeners results for local and state races as they become available both on-air and on our website.

Kirsten Wisniewski November 1, 2024