Voting bill passes through Minnesota House

An elections policy bill authored by Rep. Mike Freiberg (DFL-Golden Valley) passed through the Minnesota House.

The goal of the bill is making voter registration more accessible and equitable. It would allow voters to provide a physical description of the location where the voter maintains residence if their residence lacks a street address, which provides additional means to register unhoused people and those on Tribal land. The package also expands the ability to request absentee ballots online to all elections, including city-level, with few exceptions. It would also require colleges and universities be provided an early voting location on campus at the request of the institution.

“This is a solid package of legislation that will help more eligible Minnesotans make it to the polls,” Freiberg said.“ Our democracy works best when participation is high, and tonight we built upon our work from last year and made good on our promise to fight for free and fair elections. We’ve said it before and we’ll continue to act on it: Participating in the democratic process is a right, not a privilege.”

The package also includes the Minnesota Voting Right Act (MVRA), which codifies, streamlines and strengthens the protections against voter suppression and vote dilution under the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. The bill is a response to a recent ruling by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, which upended decades of precedent in its decision to deprive citizens in the 8th Circuit, including Minnesota, of the right to file a lawsuit under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 for claims of voter suppression or dilution. This bill will ensure Minnesotans can vindicate these essential protections to combat racial discrimination in voting.

The Minnesota Voting Rights Act aims to protect voters from discriminatory voter suppression tactics, including closing or shifting polling places, language access denial, inadequate voter registration efforts, notary requirements, and/or off-cycle non-standard election days.

The policy bill also includes efforts to make our census process more accurate, resulting in fairer elections. Currently, inmates in Minnesota prisons are counted in the census as residents of where they are incarcerated, which results in inaccuracies in data. The Elections package includes legislation to make sure incarcerated Minnesotans are counted where they last resided instead, ensuring their communities have an accurate representation of residency.

Learn more by looking up HF 4772 at revisor.mn.gov/bills.