Dakota County is responsible for the overall administration of elections held within the county. These duties include:
- Training municipal clerks and election judges in election law, rules and procedures.
- Printing all ballots, programming all automatic tabulating and assistive voting equipment.
- Maintaining all voter registration and voter history records for the county.
- Ensuring all campaign finance requirements are met.
- Reporting all election results to the State of Minnesota.
- Administering absentee ballots.
- Maintaining all election equipment.
Your voting rights
You have the right to:
- Vote privately and independently.
- Have an accessible polling place with voting machines for voters with disabilities.
- Change or correct your ballot before it is cast.
- Have time off work to vote.
- Vote if you are in line by 8 p.m.
- Register on election day.
- Bring children to the polls.
- Vote if you are not currently incarcerated for a felony conviction.
- Vote if under guardianship, unless a judge has revoked your right to vote.
- Vote without being influenced.
- File a complaint.
You can also get help from your polling place or bring someone of your choice. You can't get help from your employer or union.
To request information about your rights, contact Elections at elections@co.dakota.mn.us.
Ways to get involved
To get involved in elections and voter outreach, visit
mnvotes.org.
Make sure your ballot is counted
You can track the status of your ballot and confirm that it was received and counted.
Deadline to return your ballot
Your ballot will not count if it is received after Election Day.
Returning your ballot in person
You can return your ballot in person no later than 8 p.m. on Election Day to the election office that sent your ballot. You can drop off ballots for up to three other voters. You will need to show identification with name and signature when returning a ballot for someone else. You may not drop your ballot off at your polling place on election day.
Returning your ballot by mail
Your ballot must be received by Election Day or it will not be counted. Return your ballot by mail or package delivery service (such as FedEx or UPS).
Elections Fact Sheet