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Committee lays over county elections administrator bill after testimony from county officials and secretary of state
Summary
Senate File 22-32, a county elections administrator bill with technical and administrative changes, was presented to the Senate Elections Committee and laid over for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill.
Senate File 22-32, a bipartisan package of technical changes requested by county election administrators, was presented to the Senate Elections Committee on March 13 and laid over for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill.
The measure, presented by State Senator Mark Horan and explained in detail by Michael Stahlberger of Blue Earth County on behalf of the Minnesota Association of County Officials (MAKO), would allow combined polling places to share electronic rosters, change deadlines for absentee ballot applications, streamline candidate-filing processes, and require controls on third-party distribution of absentee applications and sample ballots.
Stahlberger told the committee MAKO supports the bill as a set of administrative improvements and highlighted several key changes: allowing combined polling places to share electronic rosters to reduce confusion and costs; moving non‑emergency absentee application deadlines earlier so counties have time to process and mail ballots; permitting two health‑care‑facility employees to courier ballots in narrow circumstances when election judges cannot safely interact with a voter; and requiring that absentee-application mailings distributed by non-government entities be blank and include a statement that they are not official.
Nicole Freeman of the Office of the Secretary of State testified in support of many provisions but said the OSS prefers the absentee-application deadline be the Friday before Election Day and asked to continue discussions with counties on the exact date.
Other provisions in the bill would permit county boards to appoint nonpartisan ballot-board members for county special elections that are not held in conjunction with state contests, move certain local filing periods to avoid conflicts with state primaries, and provide flexibility about when counties deliver election supplies to municipalities.
Committee discussion focused on operational details and on balancing security and flexibility. Senator Port flagged the change that would require absentee applications to be submitted a week before Election Day; he asked to remain involved in the discussion about choosing an appropriate deadline. County and OSS witnesses said conversations on timing and templates will continue.
No committee roll-call vote was recorded on SF 22-32 at this hearing; the chair noted the bill was laid over for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill and that additional fine-tuning was expected.
