Election judges required to transfer the record of results from a precinct to a central reporting location using a physical means of communication, and postelection review procedures required to separately review absentee and early voted ballots from ballots cast in a precinct on election day.

A bill for an act

relating to elections; requiring election judges to transfer the record of results from

a precinct to a central reporting location using a physical means of communication;

requiring that postelection review procedures separately review absentee and early

voted ballots from ballots cast in a precinct on election day; amending Minnesota

Statutes 2024, sections 206.845, subdivision 2; 206.89, subdivisions 3, 4.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 206.845, subdivision 2, is amended to read:

Subd. 2.

Transmission to central reporting location.

After the close of the polls, the

head election judge must create a printed record of the results of the election for that precinct.

After the record has been printed, the
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head election judge in a precinct that employs automatic

tabulating equipment may transmit the accumulated tally for each device to a central reporting

location using a telephone, modem, Internet, or other electronic connection. During the

canvassing period, the results transmitted electronically must be considered unofficial until

the canvassing board has performed a complete reconciliation of the results
deleted text end
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election judges

must transfer the record of the results by disk, tape, or other physical means of

communication to the central reporting location
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.

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 206.89, subdivision 3, is amended to read:

Subd. 3.

Scope and conduct of review.

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(a)
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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.

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(b)
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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.
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The

postelection review must count a precinct's absentee and early voted ballots separately from

the ballots cast in the precinct's polling place on election day.
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The review must be completed

no later than one day before the meeting of the state canvassing board to certify the results

of the state general election.

Sec. 3.

Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 206.89, subdivision 4, is amended to read:

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 from the manual count

of the offices reviewed by no more than two votes in a precinct where fewer than 1,200

voters cast ballots, three votes in a precinct where between 1,200 and 1,599 voters cast

ballots, four votes in a precinct where between 1,600 and 1,999 voters cast ballots, or five

votes in a precinct where 2,000 or more voters cast ballots.
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The performance of a voting

system used to tabulate a precinct's absentee and early voted ballots must be reviewed

separately from the voting system used to tabulate the ballots cast in the precinct's polling

place on election day. Each system is separately subject to the performance standard required

by this subdivision based on the number of ballots tabulated using that system.
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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.