Polling place safety amid pandemic the focus of elections law

A new law aims to keep Minnesota’s voters and poll workers safe in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic during the 2020 primary and general elections.

Sponsored by Rep. Michael Nelson (DFL-Brooklyn Park) and Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer (R-Big Lake), it will establish special procedures for polling places intended to minimize the risk of spreading the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Under the law, effective May 13, 2020, local election officials are authorized to:

• designate new polling places until July 1, 2020, while noting that a governing body of a municipality or county must only use a school as a polling place when no other public or private location is reasonably available for use as a polling place; and

• allow employees of health care facilities and hospitals to administer absentee ballots to residents or patients in their facilities.

The law also alters deadlines for parties to submit the names of candidates to be nominated as presidential electors for the 2020 election. Prior law stated those names must be submitted no later than 71 days before Election Day; the change enacted requires that they be submitted no fewer than 67 days before Election Day to better accommodate the dates of the major party national conventions.

Absentee ballots

The law extends to up to three days after the election the period during which absentee ballots can be processed to give election officials more time to deal with an expected increase in absentee voting in 2020.

It also requires the county auditor or municipal clerk, and applicable ballot boards, to begin processing absentee ballots 14 days prior to the date of the election. And it states that, following the close of business on the 14th day before the election, a voter cannot change their vote by “clawing back” a ballot if their absentee ballot has already been accepted.

Appropriating ‘Help America Vote Act’ funding

The law also appropriates another wave of federal election security funding made available to Minnesota in December 2019 under the Help America Vote Act.

In nearly all other states, money flows directly to state elections officials. In Minnesota, however, state statute requires funds first be specifically appropriated by the Legislature. The funds — appropriated to the secretary of state’s office — can be used for things like additional training of local elections officials, strengthening cybersecurity efforts and helping local jurisdictions offset costs they may face after rigorous testing of their voting infrastructure.

Funds appropriated under the law are available until Dec. 21, 2024. In order to use them, a 20% state match — or approximately $1.5 million — is required by December 2021. The law does not appropriate funds to meet that match.

HF3429*/SF3494/CH77

HF3429* / SF3494 / CH77