When I lived n North Carolina, the board of elections there was always thinking up new ways to prevent people from voting. Here, we try to make it easy for people to vote.

I am fairly certain that the Duluth area generally surpasses the overall Mn figure, we regularly hear Duluth is at, or near the top of voter turnout.

The "Upper Midwest" states are all usually pretty high on the turnout list and long have been.  The logical reason is because they have liberal voter registration requirements.

Same-day registration has contributed to Minnesota's strong voter participation, accounting for 15 percent to nearly 21 percent of the state's turnout.  (Minnesota is one of just six states -- including Wisconsin -- that permits same-day registration [this has increased a little since this was written in 2006].  Most of these states lead the country in voter turnout.)
Assessing why easy voter registration (or in the case of North Dakota, no voter registration) is supported in the Upper Midwest (when elsewhere there have been moves toward even more restrictive measures) is an interesting question.  I presume it's a legacy of the insurgent tradition in the political culture of the region (this was the land of the Progressive Party, the Non-Partisan League, and the Farmer-Laborites, after all), coupled with relative social harmony -- notably a lot of white people.  But then I can think of numerous arguments that would confound that line of reasoning.

Great point, Big E.