Voting season began in Minnesota on Friday last week for the November 4 local elections. There are 38 city and school district regular elections on ballots around the state in addition to 79 special elections. Voters can find out if there is an election in their area, view a sample ballot, and find their polling place at mnvotes.gov/pollfinder. Minnesota’s no-excuse absentee voting law allows for eligible voters to cast their ballot starting 46 days before the election. New this year for local elections, registered voters can request an absentee ballot online and the deadline for returning absentee ballots has changed to 5 p.m. on Election Day. For those voting in mail ballot only areas, ballots can still be returned until 8 p.m. on election day. Absentee and mail ballots can be returned by mail or hand-delivered to the voter’s local election office.