1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to elections; providing for approval and 
  1.3             purpose of certain voting equipment; appropriating 
  1.4             money; amending Minnesota Statutes 2004, sections 
  1.5             201.022, by adding a subdivision; 206.80; proposing 
  1.6             coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 206. 
  1.7   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.8      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 201.022, is 
  1.9   amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
  1.10     Subd. 3.  [CONSULTATION WITH LOCAL OFFICIALS.] 
  1.11  Representatives of local election officials must be consulted in 
  1.12  the development of the statewide voter registration system.  
  1.13     Sec. 2.  [206.585] [STATE VOTING SYSTEMS CONTRACTS.] 
  1.14     The secretary of state shall establish a working group 
  1.15  including representatives of county auditors, municipal clerks, 
  1.16  and members of the disabilities community to assist in 
  1.17  developing a request for proposals and subsequent state voting 
  1.18  systems contracts.  Each contract should, if practical, include 
  1.19  provisions for maintenance of the equipment purchased.  Counties 
  1.20  and municipalities may purchase voting systems and obtain 
  1.21  related election services from the state contracts.  The voting 
  1.22  systems contracts must address precinct-based optical scan 
  1.23  voting equipment, ballot marking equipment for persons with 
  1.24  disabilities and other voters, and assistive voting machines 
  1.25  that combine voting methods used for persons with disabilities 
  1.26  with precinct-based optical scan voting machines. 
  2.1      Sec. 3.  [206.65] [SYSTEMS REQUIRED IN POLLING PLACES; 
  2.2   CO-LOCATION OF PRECINCTS.] 
  2.3      In federal and state elections held after December 31, 
  2.4   2005, and in county, municipal, and school district elections 
  2.5   held after December 31, 2007, each polling place must be 
  2.6   equipped with an electronic voting system equipped for 
  2.7   individuals with disabilities.  Precincts that share a polling 
  2.8   place with other precincts pursuant to section 204B.14, 
  2.9   subdivision 4, may share voting equipment.  Notwithstanding 
  2.10  section 204B.14, upon written request to and approval by the 
  2.11  secretary of state, the responsible municipal clerks may 
  2.12  co-locate noncontiguous precincts located in one or more 
  2.13  counties into one convenient polling place.  To the extent that 
  2.14  an election includes offices for more than one jurisdiction, 
  2.15  operating costs are to be allocated among those jurisdictions. 
  2.16     For the purposes of this section, "operating costs" include 
  2.17  actual county and municipal costs for hardware maintenance, 
  2.18  election day technical support, software licensing, system 
  2.19  programming, voting system testing, training of county and 
  2.20  municipal staff in the use of the assistive voting systems, 
  2.21  transportation of the assistive voting systems to and from the 
  2.22  polling places, and storage of the assistive voting systems 
  2.23  between elections. 
  2.24     Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 206.80, is 
  2.25  amended to read: 
  2.26     206.80 [ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEMS.] 
  2.27     (a) An electronic voting system may not be employed unless 
  2.28  it: 
  2.29     (1) permits every voter to vote in secret; 
  2.30     (2) permits every voter to vote for all candidates and 
  2.31  questions for whom or upon which the voter is legally entitled 
  2.32  to vote; 
  2.33     (3) provides for write-in voting when authorized; 
  2.34     (4) rejects by means of the automatic tabulating 
  2.35  equipment automatically, except as provided in section 206.84 
  2.36  with respect to write-in votes, all votes for an office or 
  3.1   question when the number of votes cast on it exceeds the number 
  3.2   which the voter is entitled to cast; 
  3.3      (5) permits a voter at a primary election to select 
  3.4   secretly the party for which the voter wishes to vote; and 
  3.5      (6) rejects, by means of the automatic tabulating equipment 
  3.6   automatically, all votes cast in a primary election by a voter 
  3.7   when the voter votes for candidates of more than one party.; and 
  3.8      (7) provides every voter an opportunity to electronically 
  3.9   verify votes and to change votes or correct any error before the 
  3.10  voter's ballot is cast and counted, produces either a permanent 
  3.11  paper record or a paper ballot that is then cast by the voter 
  3.12  that is preserved as an official record available for use in any 
  3.13  recount. 
  3.14     (b) An electronic voting system purchased on or after the 
  3.15  effective date of this section may not be employed unless it 
  3.16  accepts and tabulates, in the precinct or at a counting center, 
  3.17  a marked optical scan ballot or creates a marked optical scan 
  3.18  ballot that can be tabulated in the precinct or at a counting 
  3.19  center by an optical scan machine certified for use in this 
  3.20  state, or is a machine that securely transmits a vote 
  3.21  electronically to an optical scan machine in the precinct while 
  3.22  creating a paper record of each vote.  
  3.23     Sec. 5.  [APPROPRIATIONS.] 
  3.24     Subdivision 1.  [ASSISTIVE VOTING EQUIPMENT; OPERATING 
  3.25  COSTS.] (a) $25,000,000 is appropriated from the Help America 
  3.26  Vote Act account to the secretary of state for grants to 
  3.27  counties to purchase electronic voting systems equipped for 
  3.28  individuals with disabilities that meet the requirements of 
  3.29  section 301(a) of the Help America Vote Act (Public Law 107-252) 
  3.30  and Minnesota Statutes, sections 206.57, subdivision 5, and 
  3.31  206.80, and have been certified by the secretary of state under 
  3.32  Minnesota Statutes, section 206.57.  The secretary of state 
  3.33  shall make a grant to each county in the amount of $6,100 times 
  3.34  the number of precincts in the county as certified by the 
  3.35  county, which must not be more than the number of precincts used 
  3.36  by the county in the state general election of 2004; plus $6,100 
  4.1   to purchase an electronic voting system to be used by the county 
  4.2   auditor for absentee and mail balloting, until the $25,000,000 
  4.3   is exhausted.  These funds may be used either for the purchase 
  4.4   of ballot marking equipment for persons with disabilities and 
  4.5   other voters, or assistive voting machines that combine voting 
  4.6   methods used for persons with disabilities with precinct-based 
  4.7   optical scan voting machines.  Any unused funds must be set 
  4.8   aside in a segregated account for future purchases of voting 
  4.9   equipment complying with the Help America Vote Act and Minnesota 
  4.10  law. 
  4.11     (b)(i) For the purposes of this paragraph, "operating 
  4.12  costs" include actual county and municipal costs for hardware 
  4.13  maintenance, election day technical support, software licensing, 
  4.14  system programming, voting system testing, training of county or 
  4.15  municipal staff in the use of the assistive voting system, 
  4.16  transportation of the assistive voting systems to and from the 
  4.17  polling places, and storage of the assistive voting systems 
  4.18  between elections. 
  4.19     (ii) $2,500,000 is appropriated from the Help America Vote 
  4.20  Act account to the secretary of state for grants to counties to 
  4.21  defray the operating costs of the assistive voting equipment.  
  4.22  Each county may submit a request for no more than $600 per 
  4.23  polling place per year until the appropriation is exhausted. 
  4.24     Subd. 2.  [OPTIC SCAN EQUIPMENT.] $6,000,000 is 
  4.25  appropriated from the Help America Vote Act account to the 
  4.26  secretary of state for grants to counties to purchase optical 
  4.27  scan voting equipment.  Counties are eligible for these funds to 
  4.28  the extent that they decide to purchase ballot marking machines 
  4.29  and as a result do not have sufficient federal funds remaining 
  4.30  to also purchase a compatible precinct-based optical scan 
  4.31  machine or central count machine.  These grants must be 
  4.32  allocated to counties at a rate of $3,000 per eligible precinct 
  4.33  until the appropriation is exhausted with priority in the 
  4.34  payment of grants to be given to counties currently using hand 
  4.35  and central count voting systems and counties using 
  4.36  precinct-count optical scan voting system incompatible with 
  5.1   assistive voting systems or ballot marking machines. 
  5.2      Subd. 3.  [SECRETARY OF STATE ELECTION ADMINISTRATION.] 
  5.3   $5,000,000 is appropriated from the Help America Vote Act 
  5.4   account to the secretary of state for further development of the 
  5.5   statewide voter registration system and for training of local 
  5.6   election officials, education of the public, and other election 
  5.7   administration improvements permitted by the Help America Vote 
  5.8   Act. 
  5.9      Sec. 6.  [LOCAL EQUIPMENT PLANS.] 
  5.10     (a) The county auditor shall convene a working group of all 
  5.11  city and town election officials in each county to create a 
  5.12  local equipment plan.  The working group must continue to meet 
  5.13  until the plan is completed, which must be no later than 
  5.14  September 15, 2005, or 45 days after state certification of 
  5.15  assistive voting systems, whichever is later.  The plan must:  
  5.16     (1) contain procedures to implement voting systems as 
  5.17  defined in Minnesota Statutes, section 206.80, in each polling 
  5.18  location; 
  5.19     (2) define who is responsible for any capital or operating 
  5.20  costs related to election equipment not covered by federal money 
  5.21  from the Help America Vote Act account; and 
  5.22     (3) outline how the federal money from the Help America 
  5.23  Vote Act account will be spent. 
  5.24     (b) A county plan must provide funding to purchase either 
  5.25  precinct-based optical scan voting equipment or assistive voting 
  5.26  machines that combine voting methods used for persons with 
  5.27  disabilities with precinct-based optical scan voting machines 
  5.28  for any precinct whose city or town requests it, if the 
  5.29  requesting city or town agrees with the county on who will be 
  5.30  responsible for operating and replacement costs related to the 
  5.31  use of the precinct-based equipment. 
  5.32     (c) The plan must be submitted to the secretary of state 
  5.33  for review and comment.  The county board of commissioners must 
  5.34  adopt the local equipment plan after a public hearing.  Money 
  5.35  from the Help America Vote Act account may not be expended until 
  5.36  the plan is adopted.  The county auditor shall file the adopted 
  6.1   local equipment plan with the secretary of state. 
  6.2      (d) To receive a grant under this act, the county must 
  6.3   apply to the secretary of state on forms prescribed by the 
  6.4   secretary of state and must set forth how the grant money will 
  6.5   be spent pursuant to the plan.  A county may submit more than 
  6.6   one grant application as long as the appropriation remains 
  6.7   available and the total amount granted to the county does not 
  6.8   exceed the county's allocation. 
  6.9      Sec. 7.  [REPORT.] 
  6.10     Each county receiving a grant under this act must report to 
  6.11  the secretary of state by March 15, 2006, the amount spent for 
  6.12  the purchase of each kind of electronic voting system and for 
  6.13  operating costs of the systems purchased.  The secretary of 
  6.14  state shall compile this information and report it to the 
  6.15  legislature by April 15, 2006. 
  6.16     Sec. 8.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  6.17     Sections 1 to 7 are effective the day following final 
  6.18  enactment.