The City of Bloomington has a robust plan in place to ensure the integrity of elections is upheld. Voters can be assured that their ballot is protected and that their vote counts.
FAQs
- How do I know that my absentee ballot was counted?
- You can check the status of your absentee ballot using the ballot tracker on the Minnesota Secretary of State's website.
- You will see the date accepted and verification that it will be counted.
- How do I know that the chain of custody of my ballot is secure?
- All absentee ballots are tracked individually and linked to a voter in Minnesota’s voter registration system database. Once received by your elections office, the ballot is marked as received. The signature envelope is then reviewed by the absentee ballot board. This board checks that the signature envelope was filled out correctly by the voter and their witness. Each envelope is reviewed by at least two members of the board. The board will also ensure the voter is registered or has included a properly completed voter registration application and that the voter has not already voted in the election. Once accepted, the ballots are stored in a secure area. Starting 18 days before the election, the signature envelopes are opened and the ballot envelopes are removed and set aside so that no one knows whose ballot is whose. Once the ballot envelopes are separated, they are opened, reviewed by ballot board members, duplicated if necessary, and inserted in the ballot counter. Ballots need to be duplicated if a ballot is not readable by the ballot counter, for example if a ballot is damaged or the incorrect ballot style for that precinct. Absentee ballots may be inserted into ballot counters starting 18 days before election day. However, no totals are produced until polling places close at 8 p.m. on election night.
- How do election officials make sure people can’t vote twice?
- All absentee ballots are tracked individually and linked to a voter in Minnesota’s voter registration database. Once a ballot is accepted, if that voter tries to vote again, the election official or election judge will see that the voter has an accepted ballot. Voter rosters in the polling place are even updated throughout election day as more absentee ballots are accepted.
- How do election officials make sure that only citizens of the United States are voting?
- When a voter registers to vote, they are signing the oath certifying that they are citizens of the United States. Citizenship is then confirmed by the county.
- Voting by a person who is not a citizen of the United States is both a state and federal crime.
Security
The City of Bloomington has a plan in place to ensure that not only the integrity of elections is upheld but that they are also safe. The Bloomington Police Department will have extra resources available on Election Day so that people feel safe and secure when exercising their right to vote or when working at the polling places.
