HF 2755

as introduced - 86th Legislature (2009 - 2010) Posted on 02/09/2010 11:32pm

A bill for an act
relating to elections; appropriating money for grants to counties for voting
equipment and vote-counting equipment; specifying grant terms and procedures.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1. new text begin APPROPRIATIONS; ASSISTIVE VOTING EQUIPMENT AND
VOTE-COUNTING EQUIPMENT.
new text end

new text begin Subdivision 1. new text end

new text begin Maintenance and operation grants. new text end

new text begin $300,000 is appropriated from
the Help America Vote Act account to the secretary of state for grants to counties to defray
operating and maintenance costs of the assistive voting equipment and vote-counting
equipment in each polling place. Grants of up to $300 per polling place may be made until
this appropriation is exhausted. If the grant requests exceed the appropriation available,
the secretary of state shall prorate the grant amounts to each eligible county to match the
amount available.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 2. new text end

new text begin Grant application. new text end

new text begin To receive a grant under this subdivision, a county
must apply to the secretary of state on forms prescribed by the secretary of state that set
forth how the grant money will be spent. Grants for maintenance and operation costs for
the 2010 elections must be received by the secretary of state by August 1, 2010. Grant
awards must be made to the counties by December 1, 2010. If funds remain from this
appropriation, the secretary may also make grants available for the 2012 election, with
grant applications due by March 1, 2012, and grants made to counties by June 30, 2012.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 3. new text end

new text begin Eligibility. new text end

new text begin To be eligible to apply for a grant under this section, a county
must have fewer than 50,000 registered voters as of January 1, 2010, and must have less
than $300 per polling place that was used in the 2008 general election as a balance in its
Help America Vote Act account from funds distributed to it in 2005.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 4. new text end

new text begin Report. new text end

new text begin Each county receiving a grant under this section must include
the expenditures it has made on the appropriate Help America Vote Act reports submitted
to the secretary of state. If a county does not use the funds it has received under this
section by June 30, 2013, it must return the funds to the secretary of state. In addition
to the report required by this section, each county receiving a grant under this act must
maintain financial records for each grant sufficient to satisfy federal audit standards and
must transmit those records to the secretary of state upon request of the secretary of state.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 5. new text end

new text begin Operating costs. new text end

new text begin "Operating costs" include actual county and municipal
costs for hardware maintenance, election day technical support, software licensing, system
programming, voting system testing, training of county or municipal staff in the use of
voting equipment, and transportation of and storage of the voting equipment.
new text end

Sec. 2. new text begin APPROPRIATIONS; OPTICAL SCAN EQUIPMENT.
new text end

new text begin Subdivision 1. new text end

new text begin Optical scan voting equipment grants. new text end

new text begin $2,100,000 is appropriated
from the Help America Vote Act account to the secretary of state for grants to counties to
purchase optical scan voting equipment.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 2. new text end

new text begin Grant application. new text end

new text begin To receive a grant under this section, a county must
apply to the secretary of state on forms prescribed by the secretary of state that set forth
how the grant money will be spent. Applications for grants under this section must be
submitted to the secretary of state by December 1, 2010, and be for purchases made prior
to March 31, 2014. Any funds granted to a county and not spent by June 30, 2014, must
be returned to the secretary of state and the Help America Vote Act account.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 3. new text end

new text begin Eligibility. new text end

new text begin A county is eligible to apply for a grant under this section if it
purchased precinct-based optical scan equipment prior to September 1, 2002, and did not
receive any state or federal money to defray the cost of that purchase. Eligible counties
may apply for up to $4,000 per polling place to replace each precinct-based optical scan
vote counter purchased without state or federal financial assistance and purchased prior to
January 1, 2001. If a county received a matching grant from the 2001 state grant available
to pay 50 percent of the cost for vote-counting equipment, those counties are not eligible
for this grant to replace the vote-counting equipment purchased partially with those grant
funds. Counties must agree to a 50 percent match of any state and federal funds granted
through this grant application.
new text end

new text begin If eligible counties apply for grants for more than 525 polling places, the secretary
of state shall prorate the amount granted per polling place to match the available
appropriation. A county may submit more than one grant application, so long as the
appropriation remains available.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 4. new text end

new text begin Report. new text end

new text begin Each county receiving a grant under this section must include
the expenditures it has made on the appropriate Help America Vote Act reports submitted
to the secretary of state. If a county does not use the funds it has received under this
section by June 30, 2014, it must return the funds to the secretary of state. In addition
to the report required by this section, each county receiving a grant under this act must
maintain financial records for each grant sufficient to satisfy federal audit standards and
must transmit those records to the secretary of state upon request of the secretary of state.
new text end