2007 Minnesota Statutes

204C.13 RECEIVING AND MARKING BALLOTS.
    Subdivision 1. Handing ballot to voter. When the election judges are satisfied that an
individual is eligible to vote in that precinct, the election judge in charge of the ballots shall give
the voter only one ballot of each kind that is to be voted upon at that precinct. Each ballot shall be
removed separately as needed for each voter from the previously initialed pile of ballots.
    Subd. 2. Voting booths. One of the election judges shall explain to the voter the proper
method of marking and folding the ballots and, during a primary election, the effect of attempting
to vote in more than one party's primary. Except as otherwise provided in section 204C.15,
the voter shall retire alone to an unoccupied voting booth and mark the ballots without undue
delay. The voter may take sample ballots into the booth to assist in voting. The election judges
may adopt and enforce reasonable rules governing the amount of time a voter may spend in
the voting booth marking ballots.
    Subd. 3. Marking ballots. The voter shall mark each ballot in the following manner:
(a) A mark (X) shall be placed in the square opposite the printed name of each candidate
for whom the individual desires to vote, and in the square before the "YES" or "NO" if the
individual desires to vote for or against a question.
(b) The voter may write in other names on the lines provided under the printed names of the
candidates, except that no names shall be written in on primary ballots.
(c) At a state primary an individual may vote for candidates of only one major political party
on the partisan primary ballot. If a partisan primary ballot contains votes for the candidates
of more than one major political party, the ballot is totally defective and no vote on the ballot
shall be counted.
(d) An individual who spoils a ballot may return it to the election judges and receive another.
    Subd. 4. Folding ballots. After marking the ballots, the voter shall fold each of them
separately to conceal the face and all marks on it, and to expose only the initials of the election
judges on the back of the ballot.
    Subd. 5. Deposit of ballots in ballot boxes. The voter shall then withdraw from the voting
booth with the ballots and hand them to the election judge in charge of the ballot boxes. That
election judge shall immediately deposit each ballot in the proper box. Ballots that have not
been initialed by the election judges as provided in section 204C.09, shall not be deposited in
the ballot box.
    Subd. 6. Challenge of voter; time limits; disposition of ballots. At any time before the
ballots of any voter are deposited in the ballot boxes, the election judges or any individual who
was not present at the time the voter procured the ballots, but not otherwise, may challenge the
eligibility of that voter and the deposit of any received absentee ballots in the ballot boxes. The
election judges shall determine the eligibility of any voter who is present in the polling place in the
manner provided in section 204C.12, and if the voter is found to be not eligible to vote, shall place
the ballots of that voter unopened among the spoiled ballots. The election judges shall determine
whether to receive or reject the ballots of an absent voter and whether to deposit received absentee
ballots in the ballot boxes in the manner provided in sections 203B.12, 203B.24, and 203B.25,
and shall dispose of any absentee ballots not received or deposited in the manner provided in
section 203B.12. A violation of this subdivision by an election judge is a gross misdemeanor.
    Subd. 7. Leaving the polling place. An individual who has voted or whose ballot has
been rejected shall leave the polling place and shall not return except as provided by section
204C.06 or 204C.07.
History: 1981 c 29 art 5 s 13; 1987 c 222 s 1