News Room

SAINT PAUL – On June 8, 2026, the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State announced the certification of candidates for all federal and state offices for the August 11, 2026 State Primary Election. Lists of candidates who have filed for are available electronically from the Candidate Filing website. A description of the contents of the downloadable text files is in the candidate files layout file.

Candidates for local offices that do not have primaries can file for office from July 14, 2026 until July 28, 2026.

Requirements for candidates vary by the office type and political party affiliation. Minnesotans can find qualifications and filing instructions for each office in the updated Become a Candidate section of mnvotes.gov.

Some petitions for minor party and independent candidates in the general election are still being processed. These will be complete by the close of business on June 16, at the latest. Minor party and independent candidates with successful petitions will advance directly to the November 3 General Election.

August 11 Primary

Voting in the August 11 Primary Election will begin on June 26, 2026. To be eligible to vote, a person must be 18 or older by Election Day, a U.S. Citizen, a resident of Minnesota for at least 20 days, not currently incarcerated for a felony conviction, and not under a court order that revokes your right to vote. If you are eligible to vote, you can register to vote at mnvotes.gov/register.

There are three ways to vote:

1. By Mail: Minnesotans can vote by mail by requesting a ballot at mnvotes.gov/absentee starting June 26. About 150,000 Minnesotans live in mail ballot precincts and will be mailed a ballot automatically if they are registered to vote. To be counted, absentee ballots returned in-person must be received by local election offices by 5 p.m. on Election Day. Absentee ballots returned by mail and mail ballots must be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day. Voters can track their ballot at mnvotes.gov/trackmyballot.
   
   
2. Early In-Person: Minnesotans can vote early in person at their local election office during business hours between June 26 and August 10. Beginning on July 24, voters can cast their ballot into a ballot tabulator using the new early voting process. Learn more about voting early in-person.
   
   
3. In-Person on Election Day: Minnesotans can vote in-person at their local polling place on Tuesday, August 11. Find a polling place at mnvotes.gov/pollfinder. Check your registration online at mnvotes.gov/register. All polling places are open until 8 p.m. As long as voters are in line to vote by 8 p.m. they can vote. In Minnesota, people can register to vote on election day.

Voting information is also available in Spanish, Hmong, Somali, Vietnamese, Russian, Chinese, Lao, Oromo, Khmer, and Amharic.

Online interactive tools for voters to register to vote, check their registration, request an absentee ballot, and track their absentee or mail ballot are also available in 11 languages.