1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to elections; providing for elimination of
1.3 	the state primary in a municipality or county if no
1.4 	nominee must be selected at the state primary for any
1.5 	partisan or nonpartisan office in that municipality or
1.6 	county; amending Minnesota Statutes 2004, sections
1.7 	204D.03, subdivision 1; 204D.07, subdivision 3;
1.8 	204D.12.
1.9 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.10 	Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 204D.03,
1.11 	subdivision 1, is amended to read:
1.12 		Subdivision 1.State primary. (a) The state primary
1.13 	shall be held on the first Tuesday after the second Monday in
1.14 	September in each even-numbered year to select the nominees of
1.15 	the major political parties for partisan offices and the
1.16 	nominees for nonpartisan offices to be filled at the state
1.17 	general election, other than presidential electors.
1.18 	(b) If in any municipality or county there are no partisan
1.19 	or nonpartisan offices for which nominees must be selected at
1.20 	the state primary, no state primary shall be held in the
1.21 	municipality or county.  However, at least 15 days before the
1.22 	date of the state primary, the municipal clerk or county auditor
1.23 	in such a municipality or county must post a notice in the
1.24 	office, and send a copy of the notice to the secretary of state,
1.25 	stating that no primary will be held in the municipality or
1.26 	county because there are no partisan or nonpartisan offices for
1.27 	which nominees must be selected in the municipality or county.

2.1 	Sec. 2. Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 204D.07,
2.2 	subdivision 3, is amended to read:
2.3 		Subd. 3.Exception; certain partisan and nonpartisan
2.4 	candidate candidates. (a) If the candidate of a major political
2.5 	party for a particular office is not opposed in the state
2.6 	partisan primary, the office and the candidate's name must be
2.7 	omitted from the party column on the state partisan primary
2.8 	ballot and the candidate who filed must be the nominee of the
2.9 	party.
2.10 	(b) If not more than twice the number of individuals to be
2.11 	elected to a nonpartisan office file for the nomination, their
2.12 	names and the name of the office shall be omitted from the state
2.13 	and county nonpartisan primary ballot and the candidates who
2.14 	filed shall be the nominees.

2.15 	Sec. 3. Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 204D.12, is
2.16 	amended to read:
2.17 	204D.12 NAMES PLACED ON GENERAL ELECTION BALLOTS.
2.18 	Without payment of an additional fee, the county auditor
2.19 	shall place on the appropriate state general election ballot the
2.20 	name of every candidate:
2.21 	(a) Whose nomination at the state primary has been
2.22 	certified by the appropriate canvassing board;
2.23 	(b) Who has been nominated by petition, including
2.24 	candidates certified by the secretary of state; and
2.25 	(c) Who was nominated and whose name was omitted from the
2.26 	state partisan or nonpartisan primary ballot pursuant to section
2.27 	204D.07, subdivision 3.  Only the names of duly nominated
2.28 	candidates may be placed on a ballot.