Status Check: Your South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota Early Ballots

When it comes to voting, a small number of us used to cast our ballots ahead of time if we knew we would be unable to head to our polling place on the day of the election. We called those 'absentee' ballots.

All of that changed in 2020 because of COVID when more and more of us were limiting our time in large group gatherings, opting instead to mal-in our election choices.

Now, four years later, it has become rather common for large numbers of voters to take part in what we are now calling 'early' voting.

The latest figures show that more than 65 million ballots will be cast in this year's election by people who never showed up to vote in person.

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So if you are among those who opted for this method of voting, how do you make sure that the ballot you stuck in the mailbox or dropped off in a ballot box actually got where it was supposed to go and was processed accordingly?

In South Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota, the answer is just a mouse click away.

The Secretary of State's website in each of the three states has a place where you can track your ballot.

• South Dakota
• Iowa
• Minnesota 

So how many people voting early in 2024?

In South Dakota, more than 235,000 of the state's registered voters (42%) took advantage of early voting.

In Iowa, more than 634,000 of the state's registered voters (29%) took advantage of early voting.

In Minnesota, more than 919,000 of the state's registered voters (28%) took advantage of early voting.