Election Day is only one month away! The City of Medina has three local positions on the November 6th ballot. Residents will be able to cast their votes for the Mayor seat and two City Council seats. The Mayor is a two-year term and the City Council seats are four-year terms. The Mayor and Council seats are at-large positions, representing all Medina residents (no wards). Basic information on the candidates for local office can be found on the City’s website at: https://medinamn.us/citygov/elections/. The League of Women Voters will be hosting a Medina candidate forum on Wednesday, September 26th at 7 p.m. at the Hamel Community Building, 3200 Mill Drive. All residents are invited to attend and will be able to submit questions to the candidates at the forum. Due to the timing of this publication, if residents miss the forum, they will be able to watch a video recording, which will be linked to the city’s website at the above link.
Early Voting – Did you know that you do not have to wait until Election Day on November 6th to cast your vote? The State of Minnesota offers “no excuse” absentee voting up to 45 days before an election (starting September 21st), which means you do not need a reason to vote by absentee ballot like in previous years.
“Direct Balloting” is a new process that started in 2016 that allows early voters to place ballots directly into counting machines when voting in person the week before the General Election. Voting machines will record votes as they are turned in October 30th through November 5th, but will not report results until after polls close on Election Day, which is November 6th. Previously, in-person absentee voters placed their ballots into a series of envelopes, which is still the case if voting by absentee ballot from September 21st to October 29th.
Direct balloting provides many benefits to voters:
- Vote at a convenient time
- Have confidence that a ballot is immediately counted
- Verify ballot was properly filled out and accepted by the counting machine
- Avoid hassle of placing absentee ballots in series of envelopes
This change also helps election officials by providing:
- Faster results reporting on election night
- Increased savings in time and materials to administer the election
