HF 2755

1st Committee Engrossment - 86th Legislature (2009 - 2010) Posted on 03/19/2013 07:29pm

1.1A bill for an act

1.2relating to elections; appropriating money for grants to counties for voting
1.3equipment and vote-counting equipment; specifying grant terms and procedures;
1.4repealing an appropriation;repealing Laws 2005, chapter 162, section 34,
1.5subdivision 2, as amended.
1.6BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.7    Section 1. APPROPRIATIONS; ASSISTIVE VOTING EQUIPMENT AND
1.8VOTE-COUNTING EQUIPMENT.
1.9    Subdivision 1. Operating grants. $300,000 is appropriated from the Help America
1.10Vote Act account to the secretary of state for grants to counties to defray operating costs of
1.11the assistive voting equipment and vote-counting equipment in each polling place. Grants
1.12of up to $300 per polling place may be made until this appropriation is exhausted. If the
1.13grant requests exceed the appropriation available, the secretary of state shall prorate the
1.14grant amounts to each eligible county to match the amount available.
1.15    Subd. 2. Grant application. To receive a grant under this subdivision, a county
1.16must apply to the secretary of state on forms prescribed by the secretary of state that
1.17set forth how the grant money will be spent. Grant applications for operating costs for
1.18the 2010 elections must be received by the secretary of state by August 1, 2010. Grant
1.19awards must be made to the counties by December 1, 2010. If funds remain from this
1.20appropriation, the secretary may also make grants available for the 2012 election, with
1.21grant applications due by March 1, 2012, and grants made to counties by June 30, 2012.
1.22    Subd. 3. Eligibility. To be eligible to apply for a grant under this section, a county
1.23must have fewer than 50,000 registered voters as of January 1, 2010, and must have
2.1less than $300 per polling place that was used in the 2008 general election as a balance,
2.2including any interest earned on the account, in its Help America Vote Act account from
2.3funds distributed to it in 2005.
2.4    Subd. 4. Report. Each county receiving a grant under this section must include
2.5the expenditures it has made on the appropriate Help America Vote Act reports submitted
2.6to the secretary of state. If a county does not use the funds it has received under this
2.7section by June 30, 2013, it must return the funds to the secretary of state. In addition
2.8to the report required by this section, each county receiving a grant under this act must
2.9maintain financial records for each grant sufficient to satisfy federal audit standards and
2.10must transmit those records to the secretary of state upon request of the secretary of state.
2.11    Subd. 5. Operating costs. "Operating costs" include actual county and municipal
2.12costs for hardware maintenance, election day technical support, software licensing, system
2.13programming, voting system testing, training of county or municipal staff in the use of
2.14voting equipment, and transportation of and storage of the voting equipment.

2.15    Sec. 2. APPROPRIATIONS; OPTICAL SCAN EQUIPMENT.
2.16    Subdivision 1. Optical scan voting equipment grants. $2,100,000 is appropriated
2.17from the Help America Vote Act account to the secretary of state for grants to counties to
2.18purchase optical scan voting equipment.
2.19    Subd. 2. Grant application. To receive a grant under this section, a county must
2.20apply to the secretary of state on forms prescribed by the secretary of state that set forth
2.21how the grant money will be spent. Applications for grants under this section must be
2.22submitted to the secretary of state by December 1, 2010, and be for purchases made prior
2.23to March 31, 2014. Any funds granted to a county and not spent by June 30, 2014, must
2.24be returned to the secretary of state and the Help America Vote Act account.
2.25    Subd. 3. Eligibility. A county is eligible to apply for a grant of up to $4,000 per
2.26precinct to replace precinct-based optical scan vote counters if the vote counter was
2.27purchased prior to December 31, 2002, and the county received no federal or state funds
2.28to defray the cost of that purchase. Counties must agree to provide a 50 percent match for
2.29any state and federal funds granted through this grant application.
2.30    Subd. 4. Report. Each county receiving a grant under this section must include
2.31the expenditures it has made on the appropriate Help America Vote Act reports submitted
2.32to the secretary of state. If a county does not use the funds it has received under this
3.1section by June 30, 2014, it must return the funds to the secretary of state. In addition
3.2to the report required by this section, each county receiving a grant under this act must
3.3maintain financial records for each grant sufficient to satisfy federal audit standards and
3.4must transmit those records to the secretary of state upon request of the secretary of state.

3.5    Sec. 3. REPEALER.
3.6Laws 2005, chapter 162, section 34, subdivision 2, as amended by Laws 2009,
3.7chapter 101, article 2, section 95, is repealed.