By Rachel E. Stassen-Berger and Glenn Howatt

Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

Voters who have already cast their general election ballots tend to be from Democratic parts of the state.

Minnesotans from strongly Democratic areas or counties that lean toward Democrats cast about half of the absentee and mail ballots so far, according to a Star Tribune analysis of the state data on accepted absentee ballots as of Oct. 6.

Only about a third of the accepted ballots have come from areas that are strongly Republican or have leaned that way in the past decade’s worth of elections. The rest are from counties that swing between Democrats and Republicans.

In recent years, Democrats have heavily encouraged voters to cast absentee ballots, if they were unable to get the polls. Before this year’s August primary, which featured a heated Republican race for governor, more ballots came from Democratic areas than Republican ones.

This year, for the first time, Minnesotans are permitted to cast absentee ballots without needing a specific excuse for not voting on Election Day. That absentee ballot period began Sept. 19.

—Distributed by MCT Information Services