An election policy bill cleared the Minnesota House on a party-line vote. It includes technical updates to voting procedures and creates a new pathway to sue over election laws viewed as potentially discriminatory.

The broader election policy bill approved by the House also:

  • Clarifies definitions and stiffens penalties for those violating a prohibition around campaign-related deep fake material meant to interfere with elections. That would include disqualification from violators holding appointed or elective office.

  • Makes it easier for college students to register to vote when living on or near a college campus.

  • Updates the state’s law around language translation of voting materials in polling places with many residents who speak something other than English as a primary language.

  • Sets clearer standards around exit polling done by news media outside voting locations.

  • Makes clear that any request for a recount in the presidential race be done within a day of the official canvass completion. That recount would have to happen within a week.

  • It would also count people who are incarcerated at their last known address before entering state or federal prison for redistricting purposes. That varies from the current system that counts those individuals in the census block where they are incarcerated.