By Alex Seitz-Wald in NBC News:

Voters will head to the polls to cast the first in-person ballots in the Democratic presidential primary season on Friday — but not in Iowa’s famous first-in-the-nation caucuses.

Thanks to generous early-voting laws, Iowa’s neighbor to the north, Minnesota, has the distinction of offering the first chance for any voter to turn out and cast a ballot in the 2020 presidential campaign.

The results won’t be released until the state’s official Election Day, March 3, also known as Super Tuesday, which comes a month after Iowa’s Feb. 3 caucuses.

“Our state is emerging as a major battleground this election, and we are seeing voters across the state tuning in early and getting engaged in response to that,” said the chairman of the state’s Democratic Party, Ken Martin.

Read the full article here.