 It's primary election day in Minnesota and after a heated campaign season with many important races, a high voter turnout was expected and that did happen today. This year there was a new polling place in Brainerd at the Ascension Health Sports Center. Voter turnout was slow to start at this precinct with 101 ballots being cast by two o'clock in the afternoon. Given the light of the intensity of the race that's going on right now, I would expect us to be higher than that at this point of the day and not really sure what the reason is. We're still waiting for our big rush. We've had a couple small rushes in the hours we've been going. Many important primary races were decided today showing who will go on to the general election on November 6th. People were also able to vote early as part of Minnesota's no excuse absentee voting policy. This is the third primary where this policy has been in effect. It's important to our community and to our state and our country to come out and vote and when you turn 18 are you gonna vote? Yeah. Absolutely it's our right and our duty so here we are right. Bemidji area voters also at the polls today. In addition to the statewide races, voters were narrowing the field in city council and Beltrami county board of commissioner races. Just a few of the local races were tracking tonight. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland news, please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.