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Committee advances bill to tighten absentee ballot deadlines, give local option on early voting period
Summary
Members approved amendments and re-referred House File 2474 after sponsors said it responds to recent local election problems by limiting absentee application timing and allowing municipalities to choose a compressed in-person window.
House File 2474, carried in committee by Representative Tabke, would change multiple absentee voting procedures and codify practices county elections administrators said they need to reduce administration problems. The committee adopted the author's amendment and re-referred the bill to the general register.
Representative Tabke said the bill responds to problems experienced in Shakopee and offers municipalities an option: continue a full 46-day absentee (envelope) early voting period or use an 18-day in-person period during which voters put ballots directly into tabulators. "It allows municipalities to instead of doing the full 46 days of absentee balloting, it gives cities the option of doing the full 46 days with the envelope balloting in the first part of it and then 18 days of just putting your ballot straight into the machine," Tabke said.
A major change in the bill sets an absentee ballot application deadline seven days before the election for online and mail applications (in-person applications, special delivery for hospitals/military/emergency ballots remain unaffected). Michael Stahlberger, director of property and environmental resources for Blue Earth County and representing the Minnesota Association of County Officials (MAACO), said counties requested the 7-day deadline to allow time for mail to operate and for staff to contact voters if an application or envelope requires follow-up. "We picked 7 based on the United States Postal Service's 2024 report . . . 7 days gives us one extra day there to make sure that we can communicate with that voter if there are any issues," Stahlberger said.
Stahlberger and other county witnesses described additional statutory clarifications the bill would make: requiring more complete online applications (asking for both last four of SSN and a driver's license/state ID where available), codifying reconciliation and chain-of-custody practices for envelope absentee ballots, and preserving envelopes for the contest period as a safeguard. He said the changes are largely administrative and are intended to increase the number of validly counted ballots while providing consistency across counties.
Nicole Freeman of the Office of the Secretary of State said the office generally supports the bill's goals but asked to continue discussions with MAACO about the precise timing of the online/mail deadlines and whether separate deadlines for online versus mailed applications might be appropriate because online verification can take one to two business days.
Representative McDonald's A-1 amendment (accepted earlier in the hearing) would allow cities to decline responsibility for administering the 46-day envelope early voting option if they lack personnel or technical capacity; Representative Tabke said he would accept the amendment and continue to work on guardrails so voter access is preserved. The committee adopted the amendment and referred the bill to the general register by voice vote.
The transcript records voice votes and adoption of amendments; no roll-call tallies were provided in committee.
