2006 Minnesota Statutes

206.89 POSTELECTION REVIEW OF VOTING SYSTEMS.
    Subdivision 1. Definition. For purposes of this section "postelection review official" means
the election administration official who is responsible for the conduct of elections in a precinct
selected for review under this section.
    Subd. 2. Selection for review; notice. At the canvass of the state primary, the county
canvassing board in each county must set the date, time, and place for the postelection review of
the state general election to be held under this section.
At the canvass of the state general election, the county canvassing boards must select the
precincts to be reviewed. The county canvassing board of a county with fewer than 50,000
registered voters must select at least two precincts for postelection review. The county canvassing
board of a county with between 50,000 and 100,000 registered voters must select at least three
precincts for review. The county canvassing board of a county with over 100,000 registered
voters must select at least four precincts. The precincts must be selected by lot at a public
meeting. At least one precinct selected in each county must have had more than 150 votes cast at
the general election.
The county auditor must notify the secretary of state of the precincts that have been chosen
for review and the time and place the postelection review for that county will be conducted, as
soon as the decisions are made. The secretary of state must post this information on the office
Web site.
    Subd. 3. Scope and conduct of review. The county canvassing board shall appoint the
postelection review official as defined in subdivision 1. The postelection review must be
conducted of the votes cast for president or governor; United States senator; and United States
representative. The postelection review official may conduct postelection review of the votes
cast for additional offices.
The postelection review must be conducted in public at the location where the voted
ballots have been securely stored after the state general election or at another location chosen
by the county canvassing board. The postelection review official for each precinct selected
must conduct the postelection review and may be assisted by election judges designated by the
postelection review official for this purpose. The party balance requirement of section 204B.19
applies to election judges designated for the review. The postelection review must consist of a
manual count of the ballots used in the precincts selected and must be performed in the manner
provided by section 204C.21. The postelection review must be conducted in the manner provided
for recounts under section 204C.361 to the extent practicable. The review must be completed
no later than two days before the meeting of the state canvassing board to certify the results of
the state general election.
    Subd. 4. Standard of acceptable performance by voting system. A comparison of the
results compiled by the voting system with the postelection review described in this section must
show that the results of the electronic voting system differed by no more than one-half of one
percent from the manual count of the offices reviewed. Valid votes that have been marked by the
voter outside the vote targets or using a manual marking device that cannot be read by the voting
system must not be included in making the determination whether the voting system has met the
standard of acceptable performance for any precinct.
    Subd. 5. Additional review. (a) If the postelection review reveals a difference greater than
one-half of one percent, the postelection review official must, within two days, conduct an
additional review of at least three precincts in the same jurisdiction where the discrepancy was
discovered. If all precincts in that jurisdiction have been reviewed, the county auditor must
immediately publicly select by lot at least three additional precincts for review. The postelection
review official must complete the additional review within two days after the precincts are
selected and report the results immediately to the county auditor. If the second review also
indicates a difference in the vote totals compiled by the voting system that is greater than one-half
of one percent from the result indicated by the postelection review, the county auditor must
conduct a review of the ballots from all the remaining precincts in the county. This review must
be completed no later than six weeks after the state general election.
(b) If the results from the countywide reviews from one or more counties comprising in the
aggregate more than ten percent of the total number of persons voting in the election clearly
indicate that an error in vote counting has occurred, the postelection review official must conduct
a manual recount of all the ballots in the district for the affected office. The recount must be
completed and the results reported to the appropriate canvassing board no later than ten weeks
after the state general election.
    Subd. 6. Report of results. Upon completion of the postelection review, the postelection
review official must immediately report the results to the county auditor. The county auditor must
then immediately submit the results of the postelection review electronically or in writing to the
secretary of state not later than two days before the State Canvassing Board meets to canvass the
state general election. The secretary of state shall report the results of the postelection review at
the meeting of the State Canvassing Board to canvass the state general election.
    Subd. 7. Update of vote totals. If the postelection review under this section results in
a change in the number of votes counted for any candidate, the revised vote totals must be
incorporated in the official result from those precincts.
    Subd. 8. Effect on voting systems. If a voting system is found to have failed to record votes
accurately and in the manner provided by the Minnesota Election Law, the voting system must
not be used at another election until it has been examined and recertified by the secretary of
state. If the voting system failure is attributable to either its design or to actions of the vendor,
the vendor must forfeit the vendor bond required by section 206.57 and the performance bond
required by section 206.66.
    Subd. 9. Costs of review. The costs of the postelection review required by this section
must be allocated as follows:
(1) the governing body responsible for each precinct selected for review must pay the costs
incurred for the review conducted under subdivision 2 or 5, paragraph (a);
(2) the vendor of the voting system must pay any costs incurred by the secretary of state to
examine and recertify the voting system; and
(3) the secretary of state must reimburse local units of government for the costs of any
recount required under subdivision 5, paragraph (b).
    Subd. 10. Time for filing election contest. The appropriate canvass is not completed and
the time for notice of a contest of election does not begin to run until all reviews under this
section have been completed.
History: 2006 c 242 s 34