HF 874

3rd Engrossment - 84th Legislature (2005 - 2006) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

A bill for an act
relating to elections; providing for approval and
purpose of certain voting equipment; appropriating
money; amending Minnesota Statutes 2004, sections
201.022, by adding a subdivision; 206.80; proposing
coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 206.

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

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 201.022, is
amended by adding a subdivision to read:

new text begin Subd. 3. new text end

new text begin Consultation with local officials.
new text end

new text begin Representatives of local election officials must be consulted in
the development of the statewide voter registration system.
new text end

Sec. 2.

new text begin [206.585] STATE VOTING SYSTEMS CONTRACTS.
new text end

new text begin The secretary of state shall establish a working group
including representatives of county auditors, municipal clerks,
and members of the disabilities community to assist in
developing a request for proposals and subsequent state voting
systems contracts. Each contract should, if practical, include
provisions for maintenance of the equipment purchased. Counties
and municipalities may purchase voting systems and obtain
related election services from the state contracts. The voting
systems contracts must address precinct-based optical scan
voting equipment, ballot marking equipment for persons with
disabilities and other voters, and assistive voting machines
that combine voting methods used for persons with disabilities
with precinct-based optical scan voting machines.
new text end

Sec. 3.

new text begin [206.65] SYSTEMS REQUIRED IN POLLING PLACES;
CO-LOCATION OF PRECINCTS.
new text end

new text begin In federal and state elections held after December 31,
2005, and in county, municipal, and school district elections
held after December 31, 2007, each polling place must be
equipped with an electronic voting system equipped for
individuals with disabilities. Precincts that share a polling
place with other precincts pursuant to section 204B.14,
subdivision 4, may share voting equipment. Notwithstanding
section 204B.14, upon written request to and approval by the
secretary of state, the responsible municipal clerks may
co-locate noncontiguous precincts located in one or more
counties into one convenient polling place. To the extent that
an election includes offices for more than one jurisdiction,
operating costs are to be allocated among those jurisdictions.
new text end

new text begin For the purposes of this section, "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 and
municipal staff in the use of the assistive voting systems,
transportation of the assistive voting systems to and from the
polling places, and storage of the assistive voting systems
between elections.
new text end

Sec. 4.

Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 206.80, is
amended to read:

206.80 ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEMS.

new text begin (a) new text end An electronic voting system may not be employed unless
it:

(1) permits every voter to vote in secret;

(2) permits every voter to vote for all candidates and
questions for whom or upon which the voter is legally entitled
to vote;

(3) provides for write-in voting when authorized;

(4) rejects deleted text begin by means of the automatic tabulating
equipment deleted text end new text begin automatically new text end , except as provided in section 206.84
with respect to write-in votes, all votes for an office or
question when the number of votes cast on it exceeds the number
which the voter is entitled to cast;

(5) permits a voter at a primary election to select
secretly the party for which the voter wishes to vote; deleted text begin and
deleted text end

(6) rejects, deleted text begin by means of the automatic tabulating equipment
deleted text end new text begin automatically new text end , all votes cast in a primary election by a voter
when the voter votes for candidates of more than one party deleted text begin . deleted text end new text begin ; and
new text end

new text begin (7) provides every voter an opportunity to electronically
verify votes and to change votes or correct any error before the
voter's ballot is cast and counted, produces either a permanent
paper record or a paper ballot that is then cast by the voter
that is preserved as an official record available for use in any
recount.
new text end

new text begin (b) An electronic voting system purchased on or after the
effective date of this section may not be employed unless it
accepts and tabulates, in the precinct or at a counting center,
a marked optical scan ballot or creates a marked optical scan
ballot that can be tabulated in the precinct or at a counting
center by an optical scan machine certified for use in this
state, or is a machine that securely transmits a vote
electronically to an optical scan machine in the precinct while
creating a paper record of each vote.
new text end

Sec. 5.

new text begin [206.845] BALLOT RECORDING AND COUNTING
SECURITY.
new text end

new text begin Subdivision 1. new text end

new text begin Permitted and prohibited modes of
transfer. new text end

new text begin Ballot recording and counting systems must be secured
physically and electronically against unauthorized access.
Except for wired connections within the polling place, ballot
recording and counting systems must not be connected to, or
operated on, directly or indirectly, any electronic network
including internal office networks, LANs, the Internet, or World
Wide Web. Wireless communications may not be used in any way in
a vote recording or vote counting system. Wireless,
device-to-device capability is not allowed. No connection by
modem is allowed.
new text end

new text begin Transfer of information from the ballot recording or
counting system to another system for network or broadcast must
be made by disk, tape, or other physical means of communication
other than direct or indirect electronic connection of the vote
recording or vote counting system.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 2. new text end

new text begin Transmit to central reporting location. new text end

new text begin After
the close of the polls, counties employing precinct ballot
counting devices may telephonically or electronically transmit
the accumulated tally for each device to a central reporting
location. Before making a telephonic or electronic
transmission, the precinct election officer must create a
printed record of the results of the election for that precinct
as provided by rules of the secretary of state. During the
canvassing period the results transmitted telephonically or
electronically must be considered unofficial until a complete
reconciliation of the results has been performed.
new text end

Sec. 6. new text begin APPROPRIATIONS.
new text end

new text begin Subdivision 1. new text end

new text begin Assistive voting equipment; operating
costs. new text end

new text begin (a) $25,000,000 is appropriated from the Help America
Vote Act account to the secretary of state for grants to
counties to purchase electronic voting systems equipped for
individuals with disabilities that meet the requirements of
section 301(a) of the Help America Vote Act (Public Law 107-252)
and Minnesota Statutes, sections 206.57, subdivision 5, and
206.80, and have been certified by the secretary of state under
Minnesota Statutes, section 206.57. The secretary of state
shall make a grant to each county in the amount of $6,100 times
the number of precincts in the county as certified by the
county, which must not be more than the number of precincts used
by the county in the state general election of 2004; plus $6,100
to purchase an electronic voting system to be used by the county
auditor for absentee and mail balloting, until the $25,000,000
is exhausted. These funds may be used either for the purchase
of ballot marking equipment for persons with disabilities and
other voters, or assistive voting machines that combine voting
methods used for persons with disabilities with precinct-based
optical scan voting machines. Any unused funds must be set
aside in a segregated account for future purchases of voting
equipment complying with the Help America Vote Act and Minnesota
law.
new text end

new text begin (b)(i) For the purposes of this paragraph, "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 the assistive voting system,
transportation of the assistive voting systems to and from the
polling places, and storage of the assistive voting systems
between elections.
new text end

new text begin (ii) $2,500,000 is appropriated from the Help America Vote
Act account to the secretary of state for grants to counties to
defray the operating costs of the assistive voting equipment.
Each county may submit a request for no more than $600 per
polling place per year until the appropriation is exhausted.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 2. new text end

new text begin Optic scan equipment. new text end

new text begin $6,000,000 is
appropriated from the Help America Vote Act account to the
secretary of state for grants to counties to purchase optical
scan voting equipment. Counties are eligible for these funds to
the extent that they decide to purchase ballot marking machines
and as a result do not have sufficient federal funds remaining
to also purchase a compatible precinct-based optical scan
machine or central count machine. These grants must be
allocated to counties at a rate of $3,000 per eligible precinct
until the appropriation is exhausted with priority in the
payment of grants to be given to counties currently using hand
and central count voting systems and counties using
precinct-count optical scan voting system incompatible with
assistive voting systems or ballot marking machines.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 3. new text end

new text begin Secretary of state election administration.
new text end

new text begin $5,000,000 is appropriated from the Help America Vote Act
account to the secretary of state for further development of the
statewide voter registration system and for training of local
election officials, education of the public, and other election
administration improvements permitted by the Help America Vote
Act.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 4. new text end

new text begin Surplus voting equipment to be made
available. new text end

new text begin (a) If any county or municipality purchases or
receives new voting system equipment under this section, it may
make any equipment being replaced available on a first-come,
first-served basis at no charge for transfer to any other county
or municipality which has not previously used that type or model
of equipment. A county receiving equipment under this
subdivision may also make any equipment being replaced similarly
available to any other county or municipality.
new text end

new text begin (b) The secretary of state shall establish, for information
only, a page on its Web site on which counties making equipment
available pursuant to this subdivision must post the basic
specifications of the equipment along with contact information
for the staff person in the county or municipality responsible
for the equipment. All transfer transactions are strictly
between and among the counties and municipalities.
new text end

Sec. 7. new text begin FEDERAL FUNDS FOR ACCESS BY DISABLED
INDIVIDUALS.
new text end

new text begin The secretary of state is authorized to apply for funds
pursuant to sections 261 to 265 of the Help America Vote Act,
Public Law 107-252, to assure access for individuals with
disabilities. No further appropriation by the legislature is
required, for the receipt of those funds from the federal
Department of Health and Human Services or for the distribution
to local units of government of those funds by the secretary of
state for that purpose, notwithstanding contrary provisions in
Laws 2003, First Special Session chapter 7, section 1.
new text end

Sec. 8. new text begin LOCAL EQUIPMENT PLANS.
new text end

new text begin (a) The county auditor shall convene a working group of all
city and town election officials in each county to create a
local equipment plan. The working group must continue to meet
until the plan is completed, which must be no later than
September 15, 2005, or 45 days after state certification of
assistive voting systems, whichever is later. The plan must:
new text end

new text begin (1) contain procedures to implement voting systems as
defined in Minnesota Statutes, section 206.80, in each polling
location;
new text end

new text begin (2) define who is responsible for any capital or operating
costs related to election equipment not covered by federal money
from the Help America Vote Act account; and
new text end

new text begin (3) outline how the federal money from the Help America
Vote Act account will be spent.
new text end

new text begin (b) A county plan must provide funding to purchase either
precinct-based optical scan voting equipment or assistive voting
machines that combine voting methods used for persons with
disabilities with precinct-based optical scan voting machines
for any precinct whose city or town requests it, if the
requesting city or town agrees with the county on who will be
responsible for operating and replacement costs related to the
use of the precinct-based equipment.
new text end

new text begin (c) The plan must be submitted to the secretary of state
for review and comment. The county board of commissioners must
adopt the local equipment plan after a public hearing. Money
from the Help America Vote Act account may not be expended until
the plan is adopted. The county auditor shall file the adopted
local equipment plan with the secretary of state.
new text end

new text begin (d) To receive a grant under this act, the county must
apply to the secretary of state on forms prescribed by the
secretary of state and must set forth how the grant money will
be spent pursuant to the plan. A county may submit more than
one grant application as long as the appropriation remains
available and the total amount granted to the county does not
exceed the county's allocation.
new text end

Sec. 9. new text begin REPORT.
new text end

new text begin Each county receiving a grant under this act must report to
the secretary of state by March 15, 2006, the amount spent for
the purchase of each kind of electronic voting system and for
operating costs of the systems purchased. The secretary of
state shall compile this information and report it to the
legislature by April 15, 2006.
new text end

Sec. 10. new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE.
new text end

new text begin Sections 1 to 9 are effective the day following final
enactment.
new text end