Voting is steamy but is it hot?

Our democracy today may be in the hands of air conditioning.

The new August date for the primary means a new consideration -- it is HOT and some polling places have no air conditioning.

That means voters may swelter for the few minutes they're in the polling places and election judges may melt.

Hennepin County officials tried to prepare for the heat. Rachel Smith, election manager, said the county sent out an advisory to all cities to make arrangements for the steamy August weather by turning on the air conditioning if its available, but in some places that's not an option.

"Some schools just don't have air conditioning," said Smith. Schools often house polling places. So those polling places might have prepared with extra fans and bottles of water.

"I think this is one of those things that come up in the election world with the earlier primary," she said.

So far, many folks on Twitter have reported "meh" turnout numbers.

"22nd Voter in SD 19 Precinct 2," wrote @MNBuffalo at about 9:30 am. In 2008, about 250 people voted in the primary in that precinct.

" Low voter turnout? At 8:04 a.m. I was voter number 85 at St. Paul's W5 P1," MNMediaServices tweeted. Just under 500 voters cast ballots in that precinct in the 2008 primary.

In 2008, primary turnout was only about 11 percent total.

A few lawmakers, however, say they've seen some decent numbers in their precincts:

"In Lindstrom, 145 votes @ 945. Total votes in high interest Sept08 primary was approximate 450," wrote @RepJeremyKalin.

Minnesota tends to have two voting rushes -- before work and after work -- so all of the numbers are just a snapshot in time.