On Tuesday, many will go to their neighborhood polling place, sign on the dotted line, collect a ballot and fill in the ovals (no X's or check marks, please). They'll feed the ballot into the tabulator, don an "I Voted" sticker and go.
But Minnesotans discovered during the 2008 U.S. Senate recount and trial that the voting process is anything but simple.
Election managers like Rachel Smith of Hennepin County and Ginny Gelms of Minneapolis have the painstaking job of ensuring that thousands of moving parts -- human and otherwise -- mesh flawlessly so choices can be recorded correctly.
With another election always just around the bend, it's a job that never ends.
Hennepin County's election budget this year is $2 million; Minneapolis' is $1.27 million. But the figures fluctuate depending on the races.
Smith, Gelms and their respective staffs have been working for months to prepare for the few minutes you'll spend Tuesday helping decide the course of the state and nation. Here's a nutshell look at how they do it.
Spring cleaning
Voting machines are dusted off for servicing and cleaning. Most are optical scanners, others are AutoMARK machines used by voters with disabilities. Election officials visit polling locations to make sure voters will find them easy to use. Is there enough parking nearby? Will there be construction?
Meanwhile, county officials check registered voters against a battery of state and federal databases. For new registrants, identities are confirmed using driver's license records or Social Security numbers.
Has the voter moved? It's looked up on a national change-of-address list. Which voters died since the last election? Check the lists from the state Department of Health.
For the first time this year, elections officials are using the state Department of Corrections' list to crosscheck court logs to ensure that felons don't cast ballots. The county attorney announced this week that 43 felons who voted in 2008 are being charged with vote fraud.
"I don't think voters realize the level of detail we're working in," Smith said.
Summer school for judges
The first round of training for election judges begins. About 5,000 people are hired as judges in Hennepin County, including 1,200 in Minneapolis alone. There's a mix of veteran judges and brand-new ones. After the primary election in early August, there are recap sessions to prepare judges for the November election.
Voting starts mid-September
As absentee ballots start coming in, officials daily begin electronically scanning envelopes to see if they pass muster under state law. Ballot envelopes filled out properly are accepted; if not, the law requires that voters be promptly notified so they have another shot.
Despite the lessons of the recount, absentee ballots continue to be rejected. As of late last week, Minneapolis had accepted about 4,200 ballots and rejected 160. For all of Hennepin County, about 6 percent of absentee ballots have been initially rejected. The biggest reason: witnesses leaving off their addresses on return envelopes. That omission was sometimes overlooked before, but no more.
"We want the ballot to be perfect," Gelms said.
Also, signatures are no longer used to confirm that an absentee ballot is legit because it was less than foolproof during the recount. Now it's state driver's license or ID card number, or the last four digits of a Social Security number.
Mid-October: Tests, re-tests
It's time for voting machines to be tested. Officials feed them with marked ballots to see if the tally matches predetermined results. Some machines are tested twice, with the public invited to observe. Minnesota's optical-scan machines, which last 10 to 12 years, are considered the industry's gold standard because they automatically tabulate and leave a paper trail.
Wednesday: Get the mail
The counties get their voting rosters -- thick books listing people who are legally registered to vote -- that are mailed by the state. The lists include those who have already cast absentee ballots. Counties distribute them to the various towns and cities. From here on out, the rosters will be updated manually to include late-arriving absentee ballots.
Thursday: machines roll
Workers begin trucking gray metal voting machines to polling places, a job that takes three or four days. Election Day supplies also are shipped out: multi-colored forms, voting receipts, rulers, pens, even rubber fingers for counting.
Saturday: slicing, scanning
Absentee ballot board members armed with letter openers slice open thousands of ballot envelopes. Votes are scanned into machines but can't be tallied until after polls close Tuesday night. This scanning frees election judges from a demanding and time-consuming task on election night. It's not too late to vote absentee. Ballot are accepted through Tuesday's mail delivery.
Election Day: wedding-like
On Tuesday, Smith will be at the county's election offices near the Government Center fountain. Gelms will camp out at the city's election headquarters on the ground floor at City Hall. No doubt both will take a couple deep breaths.
"Putting on an election in Minneapolis," Gelms said, "is like planning a wedding in 131 locations."
Kevin Duchschere • 612-673-4455