Anoka County gears up for Election Day

Anoka County elections manager Cindy Reichert and her staff are gearing up for Election Day — Tuesday, Nov. 4 — which means coordinating millions of minute details.

Besides working out the logistics, the Office of Elections and Voter Registration is fielding questions about the how-to's of voting. Information can be found at the county's website, www.anokacounty.us/elections, but "if someone isn't comfortable using the web, our staff can answer questions," Reichert said. The phone number for the office is 763-323-5275.

As an elections veteran, Reichert spoke with us about some things voters can do to help make the process go smoothly.

To find out if you're registered to vote, you can visit www.mnvotes.org, or call your county elections office or the Minnesota Secretary of State at 1-877-600-8683 (1-877-600-VOTE).

"Anybody who's moved, changed their name or not voted in four years should check their registration status before heading to the polls," Reichert said.

If you're not registered at your current address, you can register on Election Day at your polling place. To do so, you'll need to provide qualifying documents showing proof of identity and current address. A current Minnesota driver's license or state ID are the most common forms of identification and address, but there are others, as well.

Anoka County has approximately 200,000 registered voters. In 2012, more than 33,000 people registered at their polling place on Election Day.

However, that isn't necessarily the case. "People need to check their polling place," which is matched up with their address, she said. "Sometimes people will go to the wrong place and they have to be redirected."

Reichert notes that sample ballots are available. "We encourage people to know what's on the ballot before they get into the booth," she says. "Voters need to research how they feel about the candidates."

If voters have a health issue that prevents them from getting to the polls, they can contact an elections official to find out more about their options, Reichert said. For example, someone can use "agent delivery," in which a designated person picks up and turns in someone's ballot on Election Day.

Absentee voting is another option. In the past, people needed a specified reason to vote absentee, but a new state law has ended that requirement. "People no longer need an excuse," Reichert said.

Absentee voting can be done by mail, but the ballot must arrive by 3 p.m. Election Day at the office that issued it. It can also be done before Election Day at your county office or, in many cases, city hall.

Absentee ballots are counted at a central location and are combined with individual precinct totals before they're reported, Reichert said.

Anoka County, which has 127 polling places in 21 cities, bought new election equipment in 2013. "The ballots are exactly the same — we still have paper ballots — and the technology is very similar," Reichert said. "It should be seamless. People shouldn't notice too much of a difference."

People can spend as much time as they need to fill out the ballot. If they make a mistake, they can get a clean ballot by asking one of the election judges, she said.

Election judges are available to help voters at the polls, or voters may bring along a helper, she noted.

"Language interpretation services are available at the polls. Some materials are also available in other languages," she said.