Less than half of the results in the presidential race were reported just before 11 p.m. in Minnesota. First race call in Minnesota – Seventh District Rep. Michelle Fischbach’s re-election – arrived after 22:00, two hours after the polls closed.

Some of the most delayed results were in Anoka County, which reported results after 2 a.m. The district decided to wait for all results to be uploaded, according to a post from the district’s X account, formerly known as Twitter.

So what caused the delay in reporting results? In 2023, the deadline for receiving absentee ballots has been extended from 3 to 8 p.m., said Cassondra Knudson, a spokeswoman for Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon. This change caused the results to be published later, he said.

“Most counties are expected to process absentee ballots received by 8 p.m. before reporting any election results,” Knudson said in a statement about the deadline changes. he wrote.

Anoka County wrote a letter just before midnight: Publish on XTwitter, formerly known as Twitter, said it was processing a “massive” volume of absentee ballots and it could take several hours for the results to be released.

“The huge amount of ballots dropped off in cities tonight is causing a delay in our reporting,” he wrote on the county’s official X account. “We want our results to be 100% complete rather than releasing a partial count. It may take a few more hours.”

Anoka County released an update a little after 2:30 a.m. saying it had begun uploading results.