House approves August primary

Minnesota’s traditional September primary could move to the second Tuesday in August to meet a federal mandate under a bill passed Feb. 25 by the House 126-5.

Passed in October 2009, the federal Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act requires at least a 45-day period for absentee ballots to be returned and counted for primaries and elections. Previous law was 30 days.

Rep. Steve Simon (DFL- St. Louis Park) and Sen. Terri Bonoff (DFL-Minnetonka) sponsor HF2552/ SF2251* that would conform Minnesota’s elections to the federal mandate. Simon amended the House version to the Senate file. It now returns to the Senate.

“It’s been said that in every recount in Minnesota there are basically two stacks of discarded ballots, one is the people who just did it wrong, and one are the overseas people who didn’t get their ballots back in time. … This is finally the fix that we need,” Simon said.

In 2008, almost 400,000 military and overseas absentee voters failed to have their ballots counted, Bob Carey, director of the Federal Voting Assistance Program, previously told a House committee. “That’s because there is just not enough time,” he said. Those voters “experience much more difficulty than the average voter in exercising their right to vote.”

There were several failed amendment attempts, including one by Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Delano) that would have required voters to show photo identification at the polling place. Another, offered by Rep. Marty Seifert (R-Marshall), would have reduced the number of voters one person could vouch for in an election from 15 to 3.

Only Hawaii currently has a later primary date than Minnesota. Ten states and the District of Columbia will also have to change primary dates to meet the new law.