Becca Most

St. Cloud Times

When it comes to voter turnout, Minnesota is a trendsetter.

Minnesota has consistently had the highest voter turnout in the United States. In 2020, Minnesota broke a record when 79.9% of eligible voters in the state voted in the general election. It was the third year in a row Minnesota ranked No. 1 in the U.S. for voter turnout.

So what are Minnesotans doing right? Let’s explore the history of voting rights and voter turnout in the land of 10,000 lakes.

Same-day registration, absentee ballots make voting more accessible

There is strong evidence that same-day and Election Day registration increase voter turnout. In 1974, Minnesota became the second state to allow same-day voter registration. As of this year, only 21 states and Washington D.C. allow voters to register the same day as the election, with proof of residency. Many states close voter registration days or weeks before Election Day.

Minnesota also promotes early voting and the use of absentee ballots, which has shown to boost turnout, too.

Political studies show Minnesotans tend to be more interested and engaged with politics than residents of other states, and competitive congressional and governor races mean more Minnesotans are likely to vote each election cycle. Higher rates of volunteerism and social engagement in states like Minnesota are also associated with more active voters.

 Although the state has a high overall voter turnout rate, disparities still exist. Voters under 30 tend to vote far less often than older Americans, but turnout surged in 2018 as younger voters motivated by Donald Trump’s presidency showed up to the polls in record numbers around the nation, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Voting rates among people of color are also lower, due in part to the nation’s long history of voter disenfranchisement, but those gaps are narrowing in recent years.

Minnesota has a history of voting blue in presidential elections

Most Minnesotans voted Republican in presidential races from 1860 through the beginning of the Great Depression, except in 1912 when voters sided with Progressive candidate Theodore Roosevelt. From 1932 onward, the state has primarily voted for Democratic candidates, last voting Republican during Richard Nixon’s landslide victory in 1972.

Outside of Washington, D.C., Minnesota has the longest Democratic voting streak in the country. Since 1976, a majority of Minnesotans have voted for Democratic presidential candidates more times consecutively than any other state.

The state’s senate seats have generally been split between the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and Republican Party since the early 1990s.

 A brief timeline of voting rights in the U.S. and Minnesota

•1789: George Washington is chosen as the first president of the United States. States are granted the power to set voting requirements and generally limited voting rights to property-owning or tax-paying white men (about 6% of the population at the time).

•1828: The first presidential election is held where non-property-holding white men can vote in the vast majority of the states.

•1868: The 14th Amendment grants citizenship to men born or naturalized in the United States, including formerly enslaved people. Women are explicitly excluded as citizens and voters are defined as men over the age of 21. 350 women present a suffrage petition to the Minnesota House, but it is defeated.

•1870: The 15th Amendment passes, preventing states from denying people the right to vote on grounds of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

•1875: The Minnesota Legislature passes the first law in Minnesota that allows women to vote in school elections.

•1898: Women in Minnesota are granted the right to vote and serve on library boards.

•1919: Minnesota becomes the 15th state to ratify the 19th Amendment (which gave all American women the right to vote) and the Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association becomes the League of Women Voters.

•1920: The 19th amendment becomes law throughout the United States.

•1924: The Indian Citizenship Act is signed into law, granting full U.S. citizenship to Native American people, but not guaranteeing their voting rights in all states. Utah was the last state to guarantee Native American voting rights in 1962.

•1965: The Voting Rights Act is signed into federal law during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, reducing barriers to voting for people of color and giving the federal government power to ensure that state and local voting laws are not discriminatory.

•1971: The 26th Amendment grants adults age 18 and up the right to vote.

Becca Most is a reporter with the St. Cloud Times.