Does Minnesota mark voters' party affiliation on the outside of mail-in ballots? No, that's not true: Political party affiliation is not included in the state's voter registration. A spokesperson for Minnesota's secretary of state office told Lead Stories that an "R" on the envelope just indicates a "registered" absentee voter, not "Republican."
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X on August 7, 2024. The post contained pictures of a mail-in ballot transmittal envelope and a mail-in ballot, with the envelope picture featuring a small "R." The post read:
Did you know that in Minnesota they mark your party affiliation on the outside of the envelope for your mail-in ballot?
Now why would they do that?
To tip off corrupt men and women delivering or receiving that mail to discard those Republican ballots?
Let's ask Tim-pon!
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Wed Aug 7 18:56:56 2024 UTC)
In an email sent to Lead Stories on August 7, 2024, Cassondra Knudson, deputy communications director and press secretary of the Office of Minnesota Secretary of State, told us that the post making the claim just shows "registered absentee ballot materials":
Political party affiliation is not part of the voter registration process in Minnesota. An 'R' marking on an absentee ballot envelope such as the one in the picture indicates that the voter was sent registered absentee ballot materials.
The Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State's website contains a page (archived here) with answers to commonly asked questions about voter registration. Under the question "How do I change my party registration?," the page states (bolded emphasis by Lead Stories):
Voters do not declare a party when they register to vote in Minnesota, so there is nothing to change! Minnesota has an 'open primary' so voters choose which party's primary to participate in when they vote their ballot.
In most cases no one will know which party's primary you voted in. However, for the Presidential Primary, the major party chair will get a list of voters who chose their party's ballot.
This information is consistent with the second picture included in the post on X that makes the claim. Even though the first picture in the post presents the mail-in ballot transmittal envelope as having an "R" that the post implies stands for "Republican," the ballot itself clearly shows the option to vote for the Republican Party or Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party in the second picture. If Minnesota was a closed primary state instead of an open primary state, Republicans would only receive a ballot with Republican candidates (archived here), and the same for other political parties.
Sample ballot transmittal envelopes on the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State's website do not show party affiliation symbols or markings. Regarding personal information, the registered and nonregistered absentee sample ballot transmittal envelope, along with the military and overseas absentee sample ballot transmittal envelope (archived here and here, respectively) simply show the name and address of the voter.
Lead Stories has explored other claims associated with the 2024 presidential election. Those stories can be found here.
