BRAINERD, Minn. - Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie wants to increase the number of townships than can use all-mail balloting during elections.

It's one of the changes to the state election law that Ritchie promoted during a swing through Brainerd Monday. Ritchie says about 530 of Minnesota's 1,800 townships use all-mail balloting which is available to communities with less than 400 registered voters. Proposed legislation would increase that to 1,000 voters.

Ritchie tells the Brainerd Dispatch ( http://bit.ly/10B3d8f) he also supports cutting the threshold for publicly-funded recounts from 1/2 of 1 percent to 1/4 of a percent. The Democrat also wants his office to have more access to court and corrections data on felons that can be passed along to election judges.

The election law changes are included in separate omnibus bills in the House and Senate.

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Information from: The Daily Dispatch, http://www.brainerddispatch.com