2006 Minnesota Statutes

204C.29 IMPROPER DELIVERY OF RETURNS.
    Subdivision 1. Failure of election judges to make delivery; penalty. If the election judges
fail to deliver returns as required by section 204C.27, the county auditor or municipal or school
district clerk to whom the returns should have been delivered shall dispatch a special messenger
to obtain them. The messenger shall receive the same compensation as an election judge would
receive for performing the same service and shall be subject to the same penalties as an election
judge for violation of any provision of the Minnesota Election Law.
    Subd. 2. Irregularities in delivery. An officer to whom election returns are required to be
made shall not refuse to receive them because they are delivered in any manner other than that
prescribed by law, except that the returns must be sealed. No canvassing board shall refuse to
include any returns in its canvass of votes because of any informality in holding the election or
making returns. All returns shall be received and the votes canvassed by the canvassing board
and included in its statements when there is substantial compliance with the provisions of the
Minnesota Election Law.
    Subd. 3. Damaging returns or preventing delivery; penalty. No individual who is
appointed to carry a report, certificate, or certified copy of election returns shall intentionally
mutilate, tear, deface or obliterate any portion of it or do any act to prevent its delivery. No
individual shall take or accept from a messenger any report, certificate or certified copy of election
returns with intent to prevent its delivery, or having taken or accepted it, shall mutilate, tear,
deface, obliterate, or destroy any portion of it. A violation of this subdivision is a felony.
History: 1981 c 29 art 5 s 29; 1987 c 266 art 1 s 46