MANKATO, Minnesota (KEYC) – The final stop on the road to the November election has finally been reached.

Tuesday is the day of the primary election and after the votes are counted, the ballots for November will be determined.

While voter turnout in the primary is much lower than in the general election, election officials said every protocol is still followed to the letter and that the number of voters makes no difference in how seriously they take the election.

“This election is a slower election for us, we have lower turnout in our primaries and we’re still doing the same work. We have poll workers helping voters, we’re making sure ballots are dropped in the ballots so they can be counted and then ultimately we’ll have the results when the polls close at 8 p.m. tonight,” said Michael Stalberger, Blue Earth County election official.

The day also serves as practice for election officials, who said this November will be particularly busy given the upcoming presidential election.

The county estimates that about 70 percent of Blue Earth County’s 30,000 registered voters will go to the polls in November, and that the elections office will be busy over the next few months preparing for such a hectic election, with voting issues ranging from the presidential election to school board decisions on the agenda.

“We are preparing for voters who want to cast their vote before Election Day. We will begin voting 46 days before the election, so that by the end of September we will have already started voting again for all voters who want to cast their vote,” Stalberger said.

The day of the parliamentary elections this year is November 5th.

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