1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to elections; modifying the postelection review process; appropriating 
1.3 	money;amending Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 204B.40; proposing coding 
1.4 	for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 206; repealing Minnesota Statutes 
1.5 	2004, section 204C.50, subdivisions 3, 4, 5, 6; Minnesota Statutes 2005 
1.6 	Supplement, section 204C.50, subdivisions 1, 2.
1.7 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.8 	Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 204B.40, is amended to read:
1.9 	204B.40 BALLOTS; ELECTION RECORDS AND OTHER MATERIALS; 
1.10 	DISPOSITION; INSPECTION OF BALLOTS.
1.11 	The county auditors, municipal clerks, and school district clerks shall retain all 
1.12 	election materials returned to them after any election for at least 22 months from the date 
1.13 	of that election. All election materials involved in a contested election must be retained for 
1.14 	22 months or until the contest has been finally determined, whichever is later. Abstracts 
1.15 	filed by canvassing boards shall be retained permanently by any officer with whom those 
1.16 	abstracts are filed. Election materials no longer required to be retained pursuant to this 
1.17 	section shall be disposed of in accordance with sections  138.163 to  138.21. Sealed 
1.18 	envelopes containing voted ballots must be retained unopened, except as provided in this 
1.19 	section, in a secure location. The county auditor, municipal clerk, or school district clerk 
1.20 	shall not permit any voted ballots to be tampered with or defaced. 
1.21 	After the time for filing a notice of contest for an election has passed, the secretary 
1.22 	of state may, for the purpose of monitoring and evaluating election procedures: (1)  open 
1.23 	the sealed ballot envelopes and inspect the ballots for that election maintained by the 
1.24 	county auditors, municipal clerks, or school district clerks for the purpose of monitoring 
1.25 	and evaluating election procedures.; (2) inspect the polling place rosters and completed 
2.1 	voter registration applications; or (3) examine other forms required in the Minnesota 
2.2 	election laws for use in the polling place.  No inspected ballot or document may be 
2.3 	marked or identified in any manner. After inspection, all ballots must be returned to the 
2.4 	ballot envelope and the ballot envelope must be securely resealed. Any other election 
2.5 	materials inspected or examined must be secured or resealed. No polling place roster 
2.6 	may be inspected until the voting history for that precinct has been posted. No voter 
2.7 	registration application may be inspected until the information on it has been entered into 
2.8 	the statewide registration system. 

2.9 	Sec. 2. [206.89] POSTELECTION REVIEW OF VOTING SYSTEMS.
2.10 		Subdivision 1.Selection for review; notice.  At the canvass of the state primary, 
2.11 	the county canvassing board in each county must set the date, time, and place for the 
2.12 	postelection review of the state general election to be held under this section.  The review 
2.13 	must be conducted at the location where the voted ballots have been securely stored after 
2.14 	the state general election or at another location chosen by the county canvassing board. 
2.15 	The review must be completed no later than two days before the meeting of the state 
2.16 	canvassing board to certify the results of the state general election.
2.17 	At the canvass of the state general election, the county canvassing boards must select 
2.18 	the precincts to be reviewed. The county canvassing board of a county with fewer than 
2.19 	50,000 registered voters must select at least two precincts for postelection review.  The 
2.20 	county canvassing board of a county with between 50,000 and 100,000 registered voters 
2.21 	must select at least three precincts for review.  The county canvassing board of a county 
2.22 	with over 100,000 registered voters must select at least four precincts.  The precincts must 
2.23 	be selected by lot at a public meeting.  At least one precinct selected in each county must 
2.24 	have had more than 150 votes cast at the general election.
2.25 	Each county auditor must notify the secretary of state of the precincts that have been 
2.26 	chosen for review and the time and place the postelection review for that county will 
2.27 	be conducted, as soon as the decisions are made.  The secretary of state must post this 
2.28 	information on the office Web site.
2.29 		Subd. 2. Scope and conduct of review.  Postelection review must be conducted 
2.30 	of the votes cast for President or governor; United States Senator; and United States 
2.31 	Representative. The recount officials may conduct postelection review of the votes cast 
2.32 	for additional offices.
2.33 	The postelection review must be conducted in public.  The recount official for the 
2.34 	precincts selected must conduct the postelection review and may be assisted by election 
2.35 	judges designated by the recount official for this purpose. The party balance requirement 
3.1 	of section 204B.19 applies to election judges designated for the review. The postelection 
3.2 	review must consist of a manual count of the ballots used in the precincts selected and 
3.3 	must be performed in the manner provided by section 204C.21. The postelection review 
3.4 	must be conducted in the manner provided for recounts under section 204C.361 to the 
3.5 	extent practicable.
3.6 	Upon completion of the postelection review, the recount official must immediately 
3.7 	report the results to the county auditor.  The county auditor must then immediately submit 
3.8 	the results of the postelection review electronically or in writing to the secretary of state no 
3.9 	later than two days before the State Canvassing Board meets to canvass the state general 
3.10 	election.  The secretary of state shall report the results of the preelection review at the 
3.11 	meeting of the State Canvassing Board to canvass the state general election.
3.12 		Subd. 3. Standard of acceptable performance by voting system.  (a) Each 
3.13 	comparison of the results compiled by the voting system with the postelection review 
3.14 	described in this section must be accurate to within one-half of one percent variation from 
3.15 	the manual count of the offices reviewed.  Valid votes that have been marked by the voter 
3.16 	outside the vote targets or using a manual marking device that cannot be read by the voting 
3.17 	system must not be included in making the determination whether the voting system has 
3.18 	met the standard of acceptable performance for any precinct.
3.19 	(b) If the postelection review reveals a difference greater than one-half of one 
3.20 	percent, the recount official must, within two days, conduct an additional review of at least 
3.21 	three precincts in the same jurisdiction where the discrepancy was discovered. If all 
3.22 	precincts in that jurisdiction have been reviewed, the county auditor must immediately 
3.23 	publicly select by lot at least three additional precincts for review. The recount official 
3.24 	must complete the additional review within two days after the precincts are selected and 
3.25 	report the results immediately to the county auditor. If the second review also indicates a 
3.26 	difference in the voting totals compiled by the voting system that is greater than one-half 
3.27 	of one percent from the result indicated by the postelection review, the county auditor 
3.28 	must conduct a review of the ballots from all the remaining precincts in the county. This 
3.29 	review must be completed no later than six weeks after the state general election.
3.30 	(c) If the results from the countywide reviews from one or more counties comprising 
3.31 	in the aggregate more than ten percent of the total number of persons voting in the election 
3.32 	clearly indicate that an error in vote counting has occurred, the recount official must 
3.33 	conduct a manual recount of all the ballots in the district for the affected office. The 
3.34 	recount must be completed and the results reported to the appropriate canvassing board no 
3.35 	later than ten weeks after the state general election.
4.1 		Subd. 4. Update of vote totals.  If the postelection review under this section results 
4.2 	in a change in the number of votes counted for any candidate, the revised vote totals must 
4.3 	be incorporated in the official result from those precincts.
4.4 		Subd. 5. Effect on voting systems.  If a voting system is found to have failed 
4.5 	to record votes accurately and in the manner provided by the Minnesota election law, 
4.6 	the voting system must not be used at another election until it has been examined and 
4.7 	recertified by the secretary of state. If the voting system failure is attributable to either its 
4.8 	design or to actions of the vendor, the vendor must forfeit the vendor bond required by 
4.9 	section 206.57 and the performance bond required by section 206.66. 
4.10 		Subd. 6. Costs of review.  The costs of the postelection review required by this 
4.11 	section must be allocated as follows: 
4.12 	(1) the governing body responsible for each precinct selected for review must pay 
4.13 	the costs incurred for the review conducted under subdivision 2 or 3, paragraph (b); 
4.14 	 (2) the vendor of the voting system must pay any costs incurred by the secretary 
4.15 	of state to examine and recertify the voting system; and
4.16 	(3) the secretary of state must reimburse local units of government for the costs of 
4.17 	any recount required under subdivision 3, paragraph (c).
4.18 		Subd. 7. Time for filing election contest.  The time for notice of a contest of 
4.19 	election does not begin to run until all reviews under this section have been completed.

4.20 	Sec. 3. [206.895] SECRETARY OF STATE MONITOR.
4.21 	The secretary of state must monitor and evaluate election procedures in precincts 
4.22 	subject to the audit provided for in section 206.89 in at least four precincts in each 
4.23 	congressional district. The precincts must be chosen by lot by the State Canvassing Board 
4.24 	at its meeting to canvass the state general election.

4.25 	Sec. 4. APPROPRIATION.
 4.26 	$....... is appropriated from the general fund to the secretary of state for the purposes 
4.27 	of Minnesota Statutes, section 206.895.

4.28 	Sec. 5.  REPEALER.
 4.29 	Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 204C.50, subdivisions 3, 4, 5, and 6, and 
4.30 	Minnesota Statutes 2005 Supplement, section 204C.50, subdivisions 1 and 2, are repealed.