ABOVE: Martin County Election Technician Myles Hahnderford stands with an absentee voting form outside of the Auditor/Treasurer’s Office at the Martin County Courthouse in Fairmont, next to the voting booths. People can vote in-person from now until the day before election day. Votes in-person July 23 or earlier are absentee and sealed in an envelope for later counting, and votes in-person July 24 and after are part of the new Early Voting system, where their ballot will be put into the voting machine after they vote.

FAIRMONT – While primary election day isn’t until August 11, Martin County citizens don’t have to wait until then to get their vote in.

Absentee voting opened June 26, allowing people to vote by mail or vote in person at their county voting station. For Martin County, that is outside the Martin County Courthouse’s Auditor/Treasurer Office.

Primary elections are being held for Republicans and Democrats for U.S. Senate, Governor, Secretary of State, State Auditor and Attorney General. The winners of each contest will represent their party in the November general election. Only two candidates filed to run for State Senate and State Representative, one for each party, so they will advance to the general election in November.

Martin County Election Technician Myles Hahnderford said people can come from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday to absentee vote, and while one can save time by making sure they are registered to vote online, he said that can be done at the courthouse before one votes.

“When they come in, they’ll have to fill out an application,” Hahnderford said. “Once they complete the application, if they’re registered, all they have to do is fill it out, and then they can vote. If they’re not registered, then they would have to fill out a voter registration application.”

Before absentee voting opened, county employees were hard at work to make sure everything got here in time. Thankfully, the county is able to go through one company, SeaChange, for everything they need to simplify this demand.

“They create our ballots and envelopes and stuff,” Hahnderford said. “They provide everything, so our vendor follows everything with statute with the state. There’s a lot of portions to it, but luckily we’ve got a vendor that supplies a lot of it.”

While anyone can vote absentee, Hahnderford said there are several reasons people can benefit from it.

“It’s something that, for people who have disabilities or who might not be able to get to the polling place on election day, it allows them to vote early and make sure that everything’s done,” he said. “That part helps. You can dodge poll lines. If they can’t really get there on election day, like if they’re going to be absent or visiting outside of the state, then they’re able to vote and have that checked off. Convenience is great.”

On top of this, Hahnderford said it allows people to make a plan and research the candidates so they can make an informed decision.

So far, Hahnderford said it has been a bit slow in the first week or so of absentee voting, which he confirmed is pretty standard.

“Once people start seeing all those [who are] campaigning, then people start to go vote more,” he said. “Usually I would say like three to two weeks before the election, it starts kicking up pretty good.”

Around that time, people will still be able to vote by mail absentee, but Early Voting will be available as well, starting July 24. This is a new program, where early votes on or after this day will be inserted into a ballot counter right away, instead of going into an envelope to be opened later.

Before coming to vote, Hahnderford said there are a few quick things people can do to make their time count.

“If they want to check the Minnesota State Secretary of State website and see if they’re still registered to vote,” he said. “If they haven’t voted within the last four years, the database will automatically turn on incomplete, just in case they’ve moved or someone has passed away. Just doing their research, so they know for sure who they want to vote for.”

Signs have been placed inside and outside of the courthouse to direct. For more information, call 507-238-3266 or visit sos.mn.gov/elections-voting/other-ways-to-vote.