MARSHALL — This week, Marshall City Council members took action to get ready for 2026 elections. In addition to setting election dates and authorizing the appointment of election judges, the preparations also included a streamlined process for counting write-in votes.

The resolution on Marshall city elections was part of the consent agenda at Tuesday’s city council meeting, and was not pulled out for discussion during the meeting.

Under the resolution, the city will only individually record write-in votes for city offices in certain circumstances.

In the 2023 Minnesota legislative session, laws were changed to allow cities to streamline the process of counting write-in votes. Under the new laws, a city could decide that write-in votes for a municipal office will only be individually recorded if there are at least as many write-in votes as the smallest amount of votes for a candidate on the ballot for that office.

“It saves a lot of time” for election officials, Marshall City Clerk Steven Anderson said of the resolution.

While Marshall has had write-in candidates in city elections in the past, voters also sometimes write in names that aren’t serious. Anderson said the city’s resolution would mean election judges won’t have to individually tally up a few write-in votes for cartoon characters, for example. “It’s one more step we don’t have to do,” he said.

The resolution regarding write-in vote counting, election dates and election judge appointments was approved by the council on Tuesday. Anderson said this would be the second time that Marshall has voted to streamline write-in vote counting.

In the 2024 Marshall mayor and council elections, there weren’t enough write-in votes cast for them to be individually recorded. According to city election totals, there were 52 write-in votes for Marshall mayor, out of a total 5,911 votes cast. In order for write-ins to be recorded individually, there would have had to have been at least 1,595 write-in votes – the same number that 2024 mayoral candidate Noel Ayala received.

The only other contested city election in 2024 was the Ward 2 city council seat. That race had only 4 write-in votes, out of a total of 2,321 votes cast. In order for write-ins to be individually recorded, there would have had to have been at least 573 write-in votes, which was the amount that Ward 2 candidate Dereck Deutz received.

Uncontested city council races also received some write-in votes in 2024. In Marshall’s Ward 1, there were 20 write-ins out of a total 1,534 votes. In Ward 3, there were 55 write-ins out of a total 1,618 votes.