Early Voters in Minnesota, Wisconsin Allowed to Change Ballots

A man walks into a polling station during early voting inside Truman College on October 31
JOSHUA LOTT/AFP/Getty Images

Voters in Wisconsin and Minnesota have the option to change their minds, as well as their early voting ballots.

However, other swing states do not give voters this option. In Florida, Ohio, Iowa, North Carolina and Colorado voters cannot change their ballots. Pennsylvania does not have early voting.

The question about whether or not voters can change their early votes arose after the FBI announced on Friday it was renewing its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server — just 12 days before the general election. As of Friday morning, more than 12.6 million Americans were estimated to have already cast their ballots, according to CNN.

“Wisconsin voters have the ability to ‘spoil’ their voted ballot either at the polls or if they have voted absentee, for a total of three ballots,” Wisconsin Election Commission Public Information Officer Reid Magney stated in an email to Breitbart News.

Magney noted the relevant Wisconsin statute, which states in part, “Any elector who, by accident or mistake, spoils or erroneously prepares a ballot may receive another, by returning the defective ballot, but not to exceed 3 ballots in all.”

In Minnesota, Ryan Furlong, the communications director for the secretary of state, cited its website, which explains how a voter may change a vote up to seven days before election day.

The question, “What if I returned my ballot and want to change my vote?” is answered on the Minnesota’s secretary of state’s website:

You can ask to cancel your ballot until the close of business one week before Election Day. After that time, you cannot cancel your ballot. To cancel your ballot, contact the election office that sent your ballot. Your options are to have a new ballot mailed; vote in person at your local election office; or vote at your polling place on Election Day.

Fox News reported in October that voters in Minnesota and Wisconsin are in fact changing their ballots.

Rich Edson reported on Fox News’s “America’s Election HQ” that the rules in the two states are significant for this election due to “all the late-breaking sexual assault allegations against Donald Trump and WikiLeaks dumps of Hillary Clinton campaign emails.”

“Now, thousands of voters in those states can resubmit their ballots if revelations about the candidates change their mind,” noted Edson.

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