Senate Elections Omnibus Bill Passes Second Committee

The bill has now cleared the Senate Rules subcommittee on Elections and the full Rules committee. Next stop: Finance.
(Published Mar 4, 2013)

SF677, as amended and authored by Sen. Katie Sieben (DFL-Newport), will now be heard in the Senate Finance committee after passing out of the Senate Rules committee today. It passed on a roll call vote of 6–3.

The bill contains seven articles and includes provisions to: establish early voting and no excuse absentee voting; clarify felon notification of voting rights restoration (resulting from the Governor’s Task Force on Election Integrity); change the state primary date from August to June; and adjust two different boundaries as a result of re-districting.

There was discussion about the necessity of the legislation as some members stated that the bill unnecessarily increases the complexity of the current system by allowing more time to vote as well as expanding the option of mail balloting for smaller cities and all townships. Other committee members emphasized the need for more opportunity and flexibility for voters in an increasingly complex world.

At the current time, the House does not have a companion omnibus bill though it is anticipated that will change in the next week or so. House Elections Chair Rep. Steve Simon (DFL-Hopkins) has indicated that he intends to have elections bills travel independently as well as in an omnibus bill.

Questions? Contact Ann Lindstrom at alinstrom@lmc.org or at (651) 281-1261.

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