by Dennis Dalman
Voters in Sartell will be able to start voting one week before the March 3 election date in the Presidential Nomination Primary.
During the Jan. 13 City Council meeting, Sartell Financial Director Heidi Ostlie told the council it is going to be a busy election season. For the Presidential Nomination Primary, this year Sartell will introduce what’s called “direct balloting” at City Hall. It is, she said, a kind of hybrid combining absentee balloting and election-day voting.
Here is how it will work. Voters can show up during business hours at City Hall any day in the week before the presidential primary on March 3. A voter can request an absentee ballot and will be given one. After making their ballot selections, voters will slide the ballots into a computer to be counted. That way, voters can vote early and won’t have to send in absentee ballots via the mail. That particular voting process can be done through Monday, March 2, the day before the official election date.
For those who don’t prefer to participate in the “direct balloting” process, Ostlie noted they can still apply for absentee ballots and then send them in. To request and receive absentee ballots, east-side Sartell residents should call the Benton County Courthouse; those on the west side should call the Stearns County Courthouse.
Countywide, the absentee voting process begins Jan. 17 for the primary. In-person absentee voting can be done at the Stearns County Administration Center in downtown St. Cloud, at the Stearns County Service Center in Waite Park or at the Benton County Courthouse in Foley.
Voters may apply for absentee ballots by telephone or by email to those places. Absentee-ballot requests can also be made online at mn.votes.org, and ballots will be sent to the applicants.
