Minnesota Absentee Ballot Tracking Site Crashes Three Days Before Election

Election workers process mail-in ballots during a nearly all-mail primary election Tuesday
JOHN LOCHER / AP

A website that Minnesota residents can use to track their absentee ballots crashed for more than an hour Saturday morning three days before Tuesday’s election.

The problem stemmed from a “hardware issue” impacting online tools for voters and site issues with the Statewide Voter Registration System, a spokesperson from the secretary of state’s office told the Associated Press.

The spokesperson added that the site had been restored by 10:15 a.m.

The ballot tracking site had seen a huge uptick in usage as a record number of Minnesota residents opted to vote early this year.

But those checking the status of their ballot Saturday morning saw an error message until the website issues were resolved.

Lines formed at early voting centers in the state Saturday morning as more Minnesota residents dropped off their absentee ballots in person instead of voting by mail or voted early in person after a federal court ruling challenged whether mail-in ballots could be accepted after Election Day even if they are postmarked on November 3.

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