Know how many of your neighbors voted? See turnout rates in Northern MN

Minnesota regularly leads the nation in voter turnout. This year, a record number of Minnesotans cast ballots for a midterm, and we saw the highest turnout percentage for a non-presidential election since at least 1950.

The state's estimated 65.16% turnout was second in the nation, about half a percentage point behind Maine — though it should be noted Maine has about a quarter of the voting population.

It's easy to get statewide voter turnout estimates fast. Minnesota's turnout rate was making headlines by Nov. 4.

But breaking it down further is more challenging.

Using data from the Minnesota Secretary of State's Office and the U.S. Census Bureau, KAXE estimated voter turnout for Northern Minnesota communities.

Northern Minnesota had an estimated turnout rate of 62.9%, a few points below the statewide average.

Tiny Hangaard Township in Clearwater County and Fork Township in Marshall County topped the list, with every one of their single-digit number of voters casting ballots.

Bearville Township in northern Itasca County had the highest turnout of a community with over 100 people at an estimated 89.63%.

And Fifty Lakes in northern Crow Wing County had the highest turnout of any city with over 100 people at 82.26%.

How'd your community do?

Leaders describe involved, engaged communities

"Well, that's pretty fantastic, I think," was Fifty Lakes Mayor Gary Staples' response to learning the city had the highest turnout in Northern Minnesota.

He said the area is full of community-oriented people.

"I don't have any reason precisely why we had such a great turnout, but we certainly did, and I really appreciate that," he said.

Staples said there are a lot of retirees moving into Fifty Lakes, but a lot of younger families, too.

"I've seen a lot of involvement coming from them with the parks and the fire department and just all that sort of thing," he said. "We've got some younger families, and they're really wanting to be involved."

Lorie Shaull

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KAXE

Voting is an indicator of a healthy and engaged community, so Staples' observations make sense.

He said with issues going on in the state, he thinks people in Fifty Lakes wanted their voices to be heard.

Just a few minutes down the road, the city of Emily was just behind Fifty Lakes in turnout.

"I think this area is Republican — has a heavier concentration of Republicans than a lot of the Cities and stuff — and I think part of that [turnout] is because there was some fraud in the Twin Cities and the state government. And I think some people were trying to voice their opinion that we needed a change at the state government level," City Councilor Greg Koch said.

Koch beat out incumbent Mayor Tracy Jones for Emily mayor last week. Koch has been a prominent skeptic of a proposed manganese mine in the city, and he thinks local issues also played a role in turnout.

Megan Buffington

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KAXE

"To me, it says that people are interested. And normally people, if they're content, they're less likely to pop out, so at this point I think people have some issues that they're concerned about, so there was a bigger turnout," he said.

"I am very excited that our community feels their voice is being heard when they come and vote, so they want to come and vote, and that makes me very appreciative of our local citizens."

Cook County in the Arrowhead has consistently high voter turnout. After dropping out of the top slot for Northern Minnesota in the 2024 election, the county again leads the list with 72.5% turnout.

Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers' first guess is that the county's older population plays a part. Voting rates tend to climb as people age. But he also said it's a very politically active and engaged community.

"That's a strong reason why I moved up here in '91, and that's why I stayed," he said. "There was so many — those community activities, community theaters and recreation groups and so on, and a lot of community activity helping people in a lot of different ways."

Minnesota's northeastern-most county is sparsely populated and geographically isolated. Grand Marais is the only city, and it's also the only place people in the county to vote in person on Election Day.

Powers said in the '90s, the county and its three townships moved to mail balloting.

"I don't know how much that helped, 'cause I don't have a long history prior to that, but it seemed like our turnout was a little bit higher after we did that," he said.

Legal challenges to mail balloting in the lead-up to the election don't seem to have deterred the county's voters. Powers said the issues were resolved early enough that it quelled people's fears, and people have just gotten used to voting that way.

There may be something to Powers' theory. Western Cook County was an outlier in terms of high voter turnout and population: Over 86% of the region's 1,500 voters cast ballots.

And many of the communities with the highest turnout in Northern Minnesota are small, remote townships that rely on mail balloting.

How we estimated turnout

KAXE's turnout estimates aren't intended to be taken as 100% accurate. Though they are based on the best-available data, that data includes unofficial election results and two-year-old population estimates.

The number of voters in the midterms is based on the Minnesota Secretary of State's election statistics.

In most cases, the U.S. Census Bureau's Citizen Voting Age Population estimates were then used to calculate a turnout percentage. The data is an estimate of citizens 18 and older by city, township or unorganized territory, as of Jan. 1, 2024.

It's really hard to get accurate population data at a hyper-local level, and the Census Bureau is the gold standard for this type of information. But even their estimates are just that: estimates. They're dependent on response rates and sample sizes, and to protect privacy, there is also statistical noise, or random additions or subtractions, in the data.

In some instances, the number of registered voters exceeded the population estimates. In those cases, the number of registered voters on or before Election Day was instead used to calculate turnout percentage.