There are too many laws.

Instead of 536 pages of election law, why not try the following?

Cities, towns, and counties will decide how to conduct their elections, so long as:

  1. On election day, voters present a government ID to receive a ballot
  2. All voting occurs face to face, in person, in precinct, on paper ballots
  3. Ballots and votes are counted in the precinct by humans and reported first at the precinct level

With such an approach, it can be seen that there is:

  1. No need for voter lists, rolls, or databases centralized at the state level, as currently exists within the Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS)
  2. No need for absentee, early, or mail-in voting, which aligns with many countries and removes chain of custody problems
  3. No need for electronic equipment, computers, or networks of any kind

Instead, the will of the people, through decision-making at the city, town, and county level, determines how best to carry out their elections, so long as it is in keeping with the principles of integrity, security, transparency, verifiability, accessibility, and accuracy.

An Election Bill Sent to Legislators in 2024

Though slightly differing from above, one Minnesotan (not me) wrote a three-page election code draft which was distributed to many legislators during the 2024 session.

Election Reform Draft 7
3 pages instead of 536
Election Reform Draft 7.docx
17 KB
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How We Got Here

No-excuse mail-in began in 2014 leading to large increase in absentee/mail-in ballots and votes.

  • A 1987 law made it possible for precincts to switch to mail-in only
  • In 2016 the thresholds from 1987 were lowered; outside metro precincts with fewer than 1,000 registered voters, metro areas with fewer than 400, could opt for mail-in only
  • There are currently 1,000+ precincts (out of 4,000 statewide) whose voters may only vote by mail (mail ballots can be hand-delivered, but no in-precinct election day voting allowed)

Minnesota's 93rd Legislature (2023) made:

  1. electronic tabulators mandatory if previously used at one or more precincts, for those precincts
  2. the ballot images part of cast vote records non-public records
  3. *not yet complete*: discussion of illegals getting driver's license; 16-yr-olds in voter roll and ID pool

As seen in MS 206.58 AUTHORIZATION FOR USE. Subd. 1 Municipalities. ''Once a municipality has adopted the use of an electronic voting system in one or more precincts, the municipality must continue to use an electronic voting system for state elections in those precincts.''.

This statute does not address the ex post facto nature of the law: When counties chose to use electronic equipment they would not have known this law was going to be passed later, removing their choice. Additionally, it is unclear whether redrawing precinct lines would refresh the option for the county.

For ballot images MS 206.845 BALLOT RECORDING AND COUNTING SECURITY. Subd. 3 Cast vote records. shows, after the ordered list of 5 items, an additional line of text: ''Data stored as images are protected nonpublic data under section 13.02. It is unclear why a sixth item with this information was not put into the numbered list, but rather listed below. Perhaps it was a late addition during drafting?

The entire subdivision on cast vote records was added in 2023 after many Minnesota county auditors, county attorneys, and even the MN Secretary of State suggested they either were turned off, did not exist, or were not accessible. Note: If cast vote records were to be somehow turned off, this action would decertify that tabulator according to the Election Assistance Commission (EAC).

For all 2023 election laws in a 536-page pdf, click here.

Additional amendments are in the works for 2024.

For instance, added to MS 204C.20 BALLOTS; NUMBER TO BE COUNTED. will be a subdivision which reads: Subd. 5. Precincts with ballot tabulators. In precincts using ballot tabulators, once the final count of ballots agrees with the number of ballots to be counted, election judges must immediately prepare the summary statement in accordance with section 204C.24 and seal the ballots in accordance with section 204C.25 for return to the county auditor. The effective date will be June 1, 2024. Click here to see HF4772.

This new subdivision would seem to be aimed at preventing a parallel hand count on election day after the ballots have gone through the electronic tabulator.