St. Paul – Senate Democrats today passed a hyper-partisan, $617 million State Government and Elections bill that will astronomically grow state government bureaucracy and undermine integrity and transparency in Minnesota’s elections processes. The bill is approximately a 40% increase in spending above the previous budget cycle. 

ELECTIONS BILL MAKES MINNESOTA’S ELECTIONS WEAKER, RISKIER 

The most controversial part of the elections bill is a taskforce to study Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). Originally, the proposal was to move all state elections to RCV, However, after a study by the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota largely debunked the claims that RCV reduces negativity and partisanship and increases candidate diversity and voter participation, the provision has been reduced to just a task force. 

The budget bill also weakens residency requirements to give candidates the ability to simply claim that they “maintain residence” in a chosen location. This was concerning to Republicans after a situation with DFL Representative John Thompson last year revealed there is little oversight in place to verify a legislative candidate’s residency claims. Republicans attempted to require candidates and officials to verify their residency but the amendment was rejected.  

County and city officials have raised concerns the bills change to establish permanent early voting. Currently, Minnesotans can vote absentee beginning 46 days before the election and the absentee ballots are processed on election day just like regular ballots. The change would require voters to cast a “live” ballot, not absentee ballot, 18 days before the election. This would require extra security measures for ballots and balloting machines, and require more staff for counties to manage and secure the live ballots.  

Lastly, the bill contradicts a 2018 United States Supreme Court ruling that struck down very broad free speech restrictions at the polling place. This bill puts restriction back in place limiting not just specific candidate’s name, likeness, or logo, but also generic political names, logos, or slogans.  

“This is a bill that makes Minnesota’s elections weaker, riskier, less transparent, and less trustworthy,” Senator Mark Koran (R-North Branch), the lead Republican on the Elections Committee, said. “Minnesota has a long tradition of only approving election law changes with bipartisan support precisely to avoid bills like this. It is disappointing that Democrats have thrown out that time-honored custom. We should prioritize efforts to help our local elections officials run safe, secure, transparent, and accessible elections. This bill takes us in the opposite direction.” 

Senate Republicans offered several amendments to improve the bill. Among them are amendments that would: 

• Remove the Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) Task Force and put that money into the Safe at Home program, which supports victims of domestic violence or sexual assault 
• Increase transparency and strengthen candidate residency requirements by removing the dubious “maintain residence” language 
• Encourage participation in our republic by limiting fees for local elected positions to be no more than $25 

These amendments were rejected by Democrats on party-line votes.   

STATE GOVERNMENT BILL ASKS EVEN MORE FROM TAXPAYERS 

Notable provisions of the State Government bill: 

• Allocates $65 million to the Department of Administration for equity oversight grants, green building initiatives, and the newly statutorily established Office of Enterprise Management/Sustainability 
• Imposes global warming environmental standards for construction materials, which will be extremely expensive for state government and taxpayers 
• Creates the Council of LGBTQIA Minnesotans 
• Establishes a working group to redesign the state flag and seal 

“Taxpayers were deceived. Democrats campaigned on returning the whole surplus to Minnesotans, but this is not happening,” said Senator Bruce Anderson (R-Buffalo), the lead Republican on the Senate State and Local Government and Veterans Committee. “Today, taxpayers are seeing the whole surplus being spent on more taxes, fees, and fines, while rules and regulations are being placed on their lives. Government is ‘we the people’ not political thieves stealing from citizens’ savings accounts.” 

Republicans offered key amendments during the floor debate. Democrats, however, failed to accept most proposed changes. Among them:    

• Provide additional money to support Minnesota’s efforts to protect taxpayer dollars from fraud and abuse 
• Remove pay raises for constitutional officers 
• Require legislative approval before funding is released to build a state office building for legislators 
• Remove expensive climate change standards for building materials and spend the money on fraud, waste and abuse in grant systems 

Senate Republicans did succeed in amending regarding the redesign on the state flag. Originally, the bill put forth a large taskforce that would present flag options and without legislative action, approve a new flag. Republicans were concerned that such an important symbol of our state should have more oversight and final approval by elected officials from every part of the state. Sen. Steve Drazkowski’s (R- Mazeppa) amendment to require legislative approval of the state flag proposed by the working group was adopted.