SF 1613

1st Engrossment - 83rd Legislature (2003 - 2004) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to elections; authorizing alternative forms 
  1.3             of voting in city elections; requiring certain voting 
  1.4             systems to support alternative forms of voting; 
  1.5             amending Minnesota Statutes 2002, section 206.80; 
  1.6             proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, 
  1.7             chapter 205. 
  1.8   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.9      Section 1.  [205.85] [VOTING IN CITY ELECTIONS.] 
  1.10     Nothing in Minnesota Statutes shall be construed to 
  1.11  prohibit a city from adopting by ordinance cumulative voting, 
  1.12  ranked-order voting, or another method of voting with a form of 
  1.13  ballot that differs from the form required by section 204B.36, 
  1.14  subdivision 2.  
  1.15     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 2002, section 206.80, is 
  1.16  amended to read: 
  1.17     206.80 [ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEMS.] 
  1.18     An electronic voting system may not be employed unless it: 
  1.19     (1) permits every voter to vote in secret; 
  1.20     (2) permits every voter to vote for all candidates and 
  1.21  questions for whom or upon which the voter is legally entitled 
  1.22  to vote; 
  1.23     (3) provides for write-in voting when authorized; 
  1.24     (4) rejects by means of the automatic tabulating equipment, 
  1.25  except as provided in section 206.84 with respect to write-in 
  1.26  votes, all votes for an office or question when the number of 
  2.1   votes cast on it exceeds the number which the voter is entitled 
  2.2   to cast; 
  2.3      (5) permits a voter at a primary election to select 
  2.4   secretly the party for which the voter wishes to vote; and 
  2.5      (6) rejects, by means of the automatic tabulating 
  2.6   equipment, all votes cast in a primary election by a voter when 
  2.7   the voter votes for candidates of more than one party.  
  2.8      An electronic voting system purchased after July 1, 2004, 
  2.9   may not be employed unless it supports cumulative voting and 
  2.10  ranked-order voting. 
  2.11     Sec. 3.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  2.12     This act is effective the day following final enactment.