All Rice County Polling Places Open in Tuesday Special Primary

On February 22, 2022 Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed a Writ of Special Election following the February 18, 2022 death of Congressman Jim Hagedorn.

The Writ states in part, "There is a vacancy in the office of Congressional Representative for Congressional District 1 of the State of Minnesota, caused by the unfortunate and untimely passing of Representative Jim Hagedorn on February 18, 2022. A special election is necessary to fill this vacancy to ensure representation for the citizens of Congressional District 1."

The Special Primary Election will be Tuesday, May 24, 2022 with polls open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Minnesota has open primaries meaning a voter can participate in the party primary of his or her choice. If you are registered with one party you can vote in a different party primary.

Eight D-F-L, 10 G-O-P candidates as well as a Legal Marijuana Now and Grassroots Legalize Cannabis candidate filed to fill the remainder of the term. Twenty total filed the necessary paperwork.

If they win the Special Election Primary August 9, 2022 must run November 8, 2022 using redrawn district boundaries.

A map of the current U.S. Congress District One area of representation was included at the top of this article. So you can see the district runs across the southern border of Minnesota from the Wisconsin to the South Dakota border.

Denise Anderson is the Rice County Property Tax and Elections Director.

After receiving a copy of the polling places in Rice County for the special May 24, 2022 primary I asked why all polling places in the county included in U.S. Representative District 1 are being used.

All of Rice County is not in U.S. Representative District 1.

Anderson says they have no choice because it's a Federal Office which requires all polling places to be open.

A link to the list of polling places in U.S. Representative Distrct 1 in Rice County is here.

Webster residents may be scratching their heads thinking the split there was eliminated with redistricting and it was but remember for this Special Primary current boundaries are being used. Same for the August 9, 2022 Special Election.

Then the redrawn boundary will be used for the General Election November 8, 2022.

Anderson would not tell me what opening all polling places will cost the county, "until after the election." She did say the county is paying the bill.

State law did not allow the Governor to appoint someone to fulfill the remainder of Congressman Hagedorn's term even though his passing was in February of the election year with the General Election in November.

The statute specifies a certain number of weeks. I provide a copy of Minnesota Statute 204D.29.

Subd. 2.Vacancy 27 weeks or more before state primary.

(a) If a vacancy occurs 27 weeks or more before the state primary, the governor must issue a writ within three days of the vacancy for a special election for that office to be held between 20 and 24 weeks of the vacancy, but not fewer than 47 days before a state primary. A special primary must be held 11 weeks before the special election or on the second Tuesday in August if the general election is held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November if any major party has more than one candidate after the time for withdrawal has expired.

This is an interesting read even if you don't own a dog.

RANKED: Here Are the 63 Smartest Dog Breeds

Does your loyal pup's breed make the list? Read on to see if you'll be bragging to the neighbors about your dog's intellectual prowess the next time you take your fur baby out for a walk. Don't worry: Even if your dog's breed doesn't land on the list, that doesn't mean he's not a good boy--some traits simply can't be measured.