Minnesota election: 1.2M absentee, mail-in ballots accepted

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - More than 1.2 million absentee and mail-in ballots have been accepted as of 9 a.m. on Election Day in Minnesota.

The Minnesota Secretary of State's Office said election officials have accepted 1,271,636 absentee and mail ballots for the Nov. 5 election. They have distributed 1,411,898 absentee and mail ballots since voting began on Sept. 20.

You can track the status of your ballot here .

If you still have an absentee or mail-in ballot

About 128,000 ballots have not yet been returned. All ballots must be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day in order to be counted. Anyone who has an absentee or mail-in ballot is encouraged to return their ballot in-person to their local election office as soon as possible to ensure it's counted.

A voter can head to their local polling place to vote instead of returning their absentee ballot.

When will we know election results in MN?

Minnesotans should have most election results by the morning after Election Day, according to Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon.

Simon, who held a press conference on Monday to discuss election security , said some states could take days to finish counting ballots, but Minnesota counts ballots faster. It's all based on a state's law.

Minnesota election results: When will we know election results in MN?

"Some states accept ballots that have been postmarked by Election Day," Simon said. "Other states have a rule where they can't even start counting absentee ballots until after the polls have closed... They are following their state's laws."

In Minnesota, election officials are allowed to begin counting absentee and mail ballots as early as 18 days before Election Day. The state also doesn't accept ballots that don't reach drop off sites before polls close on Election Day. But, as Simon explained, that's not the case in every other state. But just because some states take longer to report, Simon says that doesn't mean there's a problem.

Here's when we'll know the election results in key swing states

The polls close in Minnesota at 8 p.m., and results will start coming in soon after that.

In the last presidential election in 2020, the first votes were reported at 8:08 p.m., just 8 minutes after the polls closed. And by 11 p.m., 66% of the votes cast were reported.

In fact, by 11:13 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2020 (Election Day), The Associated Press called the presidential race for Joe Biden in Minnesota.

So, there's a good chance Minnesotans will know who won Minnesota's electoral votes before midnight this year, too.