Al Jaeger

More than 66,000 North Dakotans had voted in the November election by Friday morning, Secretary of State Al Jaeger said.

As of 9:45 a.m. Friday, 66,181 ballots had been cast in North Dakota. That includes 52,626 returned absentee ballots, about 78 percent of the 67,208 that were mailed out.

Absentee ballot subtotals:

• 27,101 ballots have been returned in vote by mail counties, about 78 percent of the 34,865 that were mailed out by the counties
• 25,525 absentee ballots have been returned by voters in non-vote by mail counties, about 79 percent of the 32,343 that were mailed out

The 66,181 votes so far include 13,555 ballots cast in early voting precincts, including Grand Forks County.

The total number of votes so far equals more than 30 percent of the 220,479 votes in 2006, the last election when the president and governor weren’t on the ballot.