S.F. 32 (Scheid) Election Judge Oath

S.F. 260 (Bonoff) August Primary (S.F. 1331 as it passed the Senate contained a June primary date; the conference committee adopted the second Tuesday in August as the date for the state primary.)

S.F. 663 (Erickson Ropes) Overseas and Military Voting Ballots

S.F. 745 (Rest) Vacancies in Nomination (The conference committee did not adopt the Senate provision that expanded a vacancy due to illness to legislative contests and adopted the House language that uses existing law limiting this provision to constitutional officers.)

S.F. 834 (Pappas) Redistricting and Election Requirements for Certain Cities Electing Council Members by Wards

S.F. 991 (Sieben) Secretary of State Election Administration Provisions

S.F. 1331 (Sieben) Absentee Voting

The bill also contains one section from S.F. 662 (Carlson) that was included in S.F. 80 that prevents candidates from making a determination concerning the validity of ballots.

The conference committee also adopted section 16, which was included in the House version of the bill. This section requires the Secretary of State to submit a report to the Legislature containing information about undeliverable registration notices.

Article 1

Elections and Voting

Early Primary

Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 39, 50, 52, 62, 64, 83, 86, 91, 92, 96, 105, 106, 107, 112, 114, 116, and 120. These sections are taken from S.F. 260 (Bonoff). They would change Minnesota election law to move the date of the state primary from the first Tuesday after the second Monday in September to the second Tuesday in August in each even-numbered year. Many of the sections contained in this list require an earlier filing deadline to allow more time for the preparation of absentee ballot materials.

Enrolled Students Voter Registration

Sections 6 and 11. These sections were added to the bill by an amendment offered by Senator Pappas that was adopted in the finance committee. These sections are taken from the Higher Education Omnibus Bill (S.F. 2083) as it was passed by the Senate. Section 7 requires institutions within MnSCU to prepare a list of all students attending the institution and residing in Minnesota and to provide it to the Secretary of State for voter registration purposes. Other postsecondary institutions in the state may also provide similar lists at their discretion. Existing law is permissive, and allows postsecondary institutions in the state to prepare lists of students within ten miles of the institution's campus. Section 13 provides a conforming change.

Voter Registration Confirmation

Section 12 requires the Secretary of State to ensure that the secretary's Web site can provide voter registration confirmation to a registered voter.

Secretary of State Elections Administration Programs

Sections 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 17, 36, 53, 54, 55, 61, 63, 65, 69, 70, 71, 72, 74, 76, 79, 80, 82, 84, 85, 87, 88, 89, 90, 95, 97, 98, 99, 100, 111, and 117. These sections are taken from S.F. 991 (Sieben). They make a wide variety of election administration changes recommended by the Secretary of State. Many of these sections relate to the administration of local government elections. Section 157 is intended to comply with the federal Continuity of Congress law, which calls for an expedited special election for any vacancies in Minnesota's seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in the event that more than 100 seats in the House of Representatives are vacant.

Undeliverable Registration Notices

Section 16 requires the Secretary of State to submit a report to the Legislature containing information about undeliverable registration notices.

Absentee Voting

Sections 5, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 40, 62, 73, 75, 77, 78, 81, 101, 102, 103, 108, 109, 110, 113, and 115. These sections are taken from S.F. 1331 (Sieben). They make changes to the absentee voting laws intended to reform the absentee balloting process. These changes include the use of centralized absentee ballot boards that would count absentee ballots and then provide a vote total to precincts. Additional provisions allow registered voters to self-certify their absentee ballots and provide for I.D. number matches, replacing the signature requirement in current law.

Vacancy in Nomination

Sections 36, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, and 47. Portions of section 38 and the additional sections listed here are taken from S.F. 745 (Rest). These changes are recommendations from the Office of the Secretary of State for a new procedure to govern a vacancy in nomination. They would eliminate an office from the regular election ballot when a vacancy in nomination for the office has occurred, and would require a special election to be held for the office on the second Tuesday in December.

Overseas and Military Voting

Sections 41, 43, 44, 45, and 46. These sections are taken from S.F. 663 (Erickson Ropes). They are intended to implement the existing authorization for electronic transmittal of ballots to overseas voters. Military and overseas voters would continue to be required to return the ballots by mail.

Redistricting for Cities Electing Council Members by Wards

Sections 48, 49, 51, and 104. These sections are taken from S.F. 834 (Pappas). They require cities electing council members by wards in a year ending in one to reestablish ward boundaries in the year ending in one to reflect changes in the census.

Election Judges

Section 56, 58, and 59 are from S.F. 848 (Lourey) as it passed the Senate. These sections clarify and expand eligibility for service as an election judge; specify that lists of eligible election judges with precinct information for each judge must be furnished to each county; and allow municipalities to authorize the additional appointment of election judges within 25 days before the election.

Election Judges; Oath

Section 60. This section is taken from S.F. 32 (Scheid), and provides authorization for an election judge to supply an affirmation, rather than an oath, regarding the performance of election judge duties.

Recount Modification

Section 66 is taken from S.F. 662 (Carlson). This section would prevent a court from issuing an order allowing candidates to determine whether absentee ballots have been rejected.

Mail Elections

Section 68 is taken from S.F. 848 (Lourey) as it passed the Senate. This section provides a conforming change for the timing of the administration of mail elections requested by the Secretary of State.

Township Elections

Sections 93, 94, 118 and 119 are taken from S.F. 848 (Lourey) as it passed the Senate. These sections provide clarification on when a township election may be moved due to bad weather, allow towns holding a November election to return to a March election under certain conditions, and allow six-year terms for town supervisors.

Article 2

Campaign Finance

This article contains a variety of changes to Minnesota Statutes, chapter 10A, including recommendations from the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. These changes were all included in S.F. 80 as it passed the Senate, with the exception of article 2, section 14, paragraph (f), which requires party units to agree on an electronic filing format before they can be required to use it. The major provisions in this article recommended by the board include:

• the repeal and deletion of some of the provisions of Minnesota Statutes, chapter 10A, relating to independent expenditures that have been held unconstitutional and are no longer enforced by the board;



• the removal of a requirement for initial notice by certified mail when candidates and affiliated entities fail to meet filing deadlines and reporting requirements;



• a requirement for certain individuals registering with the board to provide an e-mail address;



• the assignment of a fixed limit ($5) to the existing exemption from the gift ban for informational material;



• the deletion of conflicting language regarding the timing for filing an affidavit of contributions; and



• requiring that a candidate must file the preprimary report before the board may make any payment of a public subsidy to the candidate.

SECTION-BY-SECTION SUMMARY

Sections 1 and 2 [Unreimbursed Automobile Use.] These sections clarify that an individual volunteer's unreimbursed use of an automobile while working for a campaign is not considered a "campaign expenditure" or a "contribution" for the purposes of the campaign finance laws. Existing law requires the unreimbursed use of an automobile to be reported.

Section 3 [Independent Expenditure.] strikes language in existing law that disqualifies an expenditure as an "independent expenditure" when it is made by a political party in a race where the political party has a candidate. This provision was held unconstitutional in Republican Party of Minnesota, et al v. Pauly (United States District Court for the district of Minnesota, 63F Supp.1008) (September 17, 1999).

Section 4 [Utensils and Supplies.] classifies necessary utensils and supplies used at a fundraiser as a "noncampaign disubursement" for the purposes of payments made by a principal campaign committee.

Sections 5, 7, 8, 10, and 15 [Late Filing and Fees; Certified Mail.] strike requirements from existing law that the Campaign Finance Board provide initial notice to regulated parties of certain late filings by certified mail. Existing law would still require notice by certified mail before a civil penalty for failure to file reports or pay certain fees could be imposed.

Section 6 [Exemptions.] modifies the exemption for informational material from the gift ban by striking the qualification that it must be of unexceptional value and fixing the limit at a resale value of $5 or less.

Section 9 [Form.] requires an e-mail address for the chair of a political committee, principal campaign committee, or party unit, and the treasurer and deputy treasurers required to file with the board. Also requires the name, address, and e-mail for the candidate of a principal campaign committee.

Section 11 [Exemptions.] authorizes the board to grant exemptions from the e-mail address requirement for good cause shown.

Section 12 [First Filing; Duration.] requires reports filed with the board by the treasurer of a political committee, political fund, principal campaign committee, or party unit to be filed electronically in a format specified by the board and allows the board to provide exemptions from that requirement for good cause shown.

Sections 13, 14 and 22 [Data Classification of Electronic Reports.] require that certain reports filed with the board be classified as nonpublic data until 8:00 a.m. on the day following the deadline for the submission of the report. Additionally, reports from party units required to file are nonpublic data until all party units have submitted their reports.

Section 16 [Third-Party Reimbursement.] allows an entity reporting to the board to disclose a payment that is a reimbursement to a third party to directly report each of the expenditures that were reimbursed, rather than listing them as separate expenses paid from the third-party reimbursement.

Section 17 [Distribution of Party Accounts.] strikes language that appears to allow a candidate to file an affidavit of contributions after September 1 of the general election year. This language conflicts with the timing requirements imposed by Minnesota Statutes, section 10A.323, which requires that the affidavit of contributions be filed no later than the cutoff date for transactions included on the preprimary election report of receipt and expenditures. The language in section 10A. 323 was later enacted and governs the timing for filing of the affidavit of contribution.

Section 18 [Withholding of Public Subsidy.] requires the filing of the preprimary election report of receipts and expenditures with the board before the board may make any public subsidy payment to an otherwise qualified candidate. The effective date would apply this requirement to reports due on or after January 1, 2012.

Section 19 [Agreement by Candidate.] changes the timing for filing a public subsidy agreement and the accompanying affidavit of contributions for a special election by providing that the spending limit agreement is due no later than the day after the close of the filing period for the special election, rather than the day after the candidate actually files for election.

Section 20 [Affidavit of Contributions.] makes the affidavit of contributions in a special election due five days after the close of the filing period for the election, rather than five days after filing the affidavit of candidacy.

Section 21 [Commercial Use of Information Prohibited.] amends the existing prohibition on the commercial use of information copied from reports and statements filed with the board to exempt reports and statements filed by lobbyists and allow their use for a commercial purpose.

Section 23 [Information Required.] requires local candidates to include the amount of cash on hand in their reporting.

Section 24 [Notice of Failure to File.] requires the filing officer to notify a candidate or committee only in situations where the entity has failed to make a required subsequent filing. This eliminates the requirement in the existing law that would require speculation regarding required initial filings.

Section 25 [Legal Expenditures.] includes local candidates within the provisions of existing law that allow candidates to make charitable contributions for political purposes without limit if made within one year after dissolution.

Section 27 [Repealer.] repeals section 10A.20, subdivision 6b, which was held unconstitutional in Day v. Holahan, 34F.3d 1356 (United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit) (1994).

TSB:rdr

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