You can vote early (but not often) if law passes

Minnesotans are a step closer to being able to vote early without the hurdles of the state's beleaguered absentee-ballot system.

The House approved a bill Thursday that would overhaul the state's elections law, an effort given momentum by voting flaws uncovered during the long battle over the still-unresolved U.S. Senate race.

The vote was 87 to 46, mostly along party lines, with Democrats supporting the changes and Republicans opposing some. The bill will go to a conference committee to be reconciled with a measure passed last week by the Senate.

The House version allows early voting in person four to 15 days before Election Day at places designated by local officials. The Senate bill extended the period to 18 days before Election Day.

The House, like the Senate, also approved online registration through a website run by the secretary of state.

For years, Minnesotans have used the absentee ballot system to cast votes before Election Day. But the trial over the Senate election dispute between Republican Norm Coleman and DFLer Al Franken demonstrated that stricter requirements for absentee voting -- designed to prevent fraud -- also resulted in more mistakes by voters whose ballots were sometimes disqualified. County officials rejected nearly 11,000 such ballots in the 2008 election.

For instance, absentee voters must fill out materials signed by witnesses who are registered voters or notaries, which early voters could avoid.

Republicans voiced concerns about early voting extending Election Day to the point where some Minnesotans will be voting on the basis of significantly different information than others. Sieben acknowledged that could happen, but said the short time frame the bills provide would minimize problems.

The House defeated several Republican amendments. One would have eliminated existing law that allows a registered voter to vouch for another who is registering on Election Day; another would have required that paper ballot instructions be in English.

The latter amendment prompted Rep. Cy Thao, DFL-St. Paul, who represents the heavily Hmong Frogtown district, to challenge its supporter, Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Wabasha, to an English spelling contest.

Missing from the House bill but included in the Senate version are provisions to move up state primaries from September to June and to allow special elections to fill vacancies from death or resignation in the U.S. Senate or House.

While the latter provision would not apply to vacancies resulting from an election dispute, another provision in the Senate bill does grow out of the recount involving Coleman and Franken. It prohibits a court from allowing candidates to veto decisions by county officials tallying rejected absentee ballots in an election recount, something the Minnesota Supreme Court allowed in the ongoing Senate dispute. The House bill does not include such a prohibition.