2007 Minnesota Statutes

203B.06 APPLICATIONS; FILING WITH COUNTY AUDITOR OR MUNICIPAL
CLERK; DELIVERY OF BALLOT.
    Subdivision 1. Printing and delivery of forms. Each county auditor and municipal clerk
shall prepare and print a sufficient number of blank application forms for absentee ballots. The
county auditor or municipal clerk shall deliver a blank application form to any voter who requests
one pursuant to section 203B.04.
    Subd. 2. Applications to wrong official. If for any reason an application for absentee ballots
is submitted to the wrong county auditor or municipal clerk, that official shall promptly forward it
to the proper county auditor or municipal clerk.
    Subd. 3. Delivery of ballots. (a) If an application for absentee ballots is accepted at a time
when absentee ballots are not yet available for distribution, the county auditor, or municipal clerk
accepting the application shall file it and as soon as absentee ballots are available for distribution
shall mail them to the address specified in the application. If an application for absentee ballots is
accepted when absentee ballots are available for distribution, the county auditor or municipal
clerk accepting the application shall promptly:
(1) mail the ballots to the voter whose signature appears on the application if the application
is submitted by mail and does not request commercial shipping under clause (2);
(2) ship the ballots to the voter using a commercial shipper requested by the voter at the
voter's expense;
(3) deliver the absentee ballots directly to the voter if the application is submitted in person; or
(4) deliver the absentee ballots in a sealed transmittal envelope to an agent who has been
designated to bring the ballots to a voter who is a patient in a health care facility, as provided
in section 203B.11, subdivision 4, a participant in a residential program for adults licensed
under section 245A.02, subdivision 14, or a resident of a shelter for battered women as defined
in section 611A.37, subdivision 4.
(b) If an application does not indicate the election for which absentee ballots are sought,
the county auditor or municipal clerk shall mail or deliver only the ballots for the next election
occurring after receipt of the application. Only one set of ballots may be mailed, shipped, or
delivered to an applicant for any election, except as provided in section 203B.13, subdivision 2,
or when a replacement ballot has been requested by the voter for a ballot that has been spoiled
or lost in transit.
    Subd. 3a. Unofficial ballots. If no official ballots are ready at the time absentee balloting is
scheduled to begin or the supply is exhausted before absentee balloting ends, the county auditor
or municipal clerk shall prepare unofficial ballots, printed or written as nearly as practicable in the
form of the official ballots. These ballots may be used until the official ballots are available.
    Subd. 4. Registration check. Upon receipt of an application for ballots, the county auditor,
municipal clerk, or election judge acting pursuant to section 203B.11, who receives the application
shall determine whether the applicant is a registered voter. If the applicant is not registered to
vote, the county auditor, municipal clerk, or election judge shall include a voter registration
application among the election materials provided to the applicant.
    Subd. 5. Preservation of records. An application for absentee ballots shall be dated by the
county auditor or municipal clerk when it is received and shall be initialed when absentee ballots
are mailed or delivered to the applicant. All applications shall be preserved by the county auditor
or municipal clerk and arranged according to precincts and the initial letter of the applicant's
surname.
    Subd. 6. Requests from abroad. If an application for absentee ballots requests delivery
of absentee ballots to a point outside the continental United States, the absentee ballots must
be sent by air mail. The transmittal and return envelopes must contain the text or symbol or
both prescribed by the United States Postal Service for transmitting election mail outside the
continental United States. Priority in mailing shall be given to all ballots sent by air mail.
    Subd. 7. Special postal services. If the federal government or any of its branches,
departments, agencies or other instrumentalities makes any special service available for the
mailing of absentee voting materials, any county auditor or municipal clerk may use the service.
    Subd. 8. Names on envelopes, directions. No envelope, return envelope, or directions
for casting an absentee ballot shall contain the name of any candidate whose name appears on
any of the absentee ballots.
History: 1981 c 29 art 3 s 6; 1984 c 560 s 5; 1987 c 175 s 4; 1987 c 266 art 1 s 15; 1997 c
147 s 15; 2000 c 467 s 7; 1Sp2001 c 10 art 18 s 12; 2004 c 293 art 1 s 21; 2006 c 242 s 17