(This post has not been updated to reflect 2015 circumstances.)

‘Got a scheduling conflict’ that will prevent you from casting your school board/city ballot on Tuesday, November 5th?

For those who do, mail-in, absentee voting is now available– per Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie’s office.  As I will be serving as an election judge for a separate school district election in Hugo on Nov. 5 (legally of course), my absentee ballot application is in the mail.  The application contains only a handful of boxes to fill in, making it almost as simple as signing the Voter roll on Election Day.  Two thresholds for utilizing mail-in, absentee method are absence from precinct and illness or disability.

With the exception of voters residing in New Brighton who have citywide elections, Mounds View district voters will be asked to vote on this operating levy ballot question and to select 3 board members from a set of 4 candidates.

9/25 Addendum: The official absentee ballot arrived in the mail today, just 48 hours after sending in the absentee ballot application. Completing the process is straightforward … even interesting, as there are two envelopes the ballot is placed (one to keep vote secret and the second to keep identifying information confidential) before it goes into a large, self-addressed envelope that is sent to Ramsey County Elections for tabulation.

From who does the ballot remain secret?  The voter’s witness, of course– which can be a spouse or any other registered voter– and is one who must vouch for the voter’s identity prior to placing it in the next envelope.  We’ll keep you posted on the rest of the process as it occurs.

9/30 Secretary of State Update: Per the absentee ballot lookup function on line at the SOS office: “Your ballot was received on September 30, 2013 and will be counted.”

Seeing as the absentee ballot application was initially sent on 9/23, the entire process of sending for, receiving & registering a completed ballot was exactly one week.  Excellent!

A Look Ahead: Starting in January 2014, voters in Ramsey County will no longer be required to provide a reason why they are voting by absentee ballot. The Minnesota Legislature approved no excuse absentee voting during the 2013 session.