Student Voting Guide | Minnesota
Registration
http://www.sos.state.mn.us/home/index.asp?page=134 (registration form available online)
Minnesota has Election Day registration, but you can also register in advance—in person or by mail—up to 21 days before an election.[1] You can also register at the same time that you vote by absentee ballot, if you have your ballot witnessed and show proof of residence to the witness.[2] If you register on Election Day, you will need to show proof of residence (see below).
You may register to vote[3] and vote in a primary election[4] if you are 18 by the next election.
Residency
In Minnesota, residence is defined as the place where the voter’s home is located, from which they have no present intent to move.[5] The residence of a “single individual” is determined by “where the individual lives and usually sleeps.”[6] Residence is ultimately defined by “physical presence and intent,”[7] but intent is the most important factor.[8] Minnesota law does not require a person to have permanent or indefinite intent to remain at a place in order to make it one’s voting residence.
At School. Minnesota students who consider their school address their home are able to establish voting residency at that address. The Secretary of State has made clear that students “have a choice as to where [they] register to vote and cast [their] ballot.”[9]
At Home. Students who lived in Minnesota prior to attending school and who wish to establish or keep their Minnesota voting residency (i.e., at their parents’ address), should have no problem doing so unless they have already registered to vote in another state. Like all states, Minnesota allows students to keep their voting residency even if they move out of the county or state to attend school. The only way you will lose this residency is if you “abandon” it by asserting residency in a new state. While registering to vote in another state is not automatically considered an abandonment of your Minnesota residency, some judges or officials might view it as such.
Challenges to Residency. You should not have trouble registering on the basis of your residence, but your eligibility to vote can be challenged by another voter in your county.[10] The challenge must be in writing, and a hearing must be held.[11] You will receive notice before the hearing.[12] If the challenge is affirmed, you can appeal to the Secretary of State, and you can further challenge any decision in court.[13] Your eligibility to vote can also be challenged on the basis of residency at the polls by a poll worker or a partisan challenger, but only based on their personal knowledge.[14] If you answer questions under oath and swear that you are eligible, you will be allowed to vote a regular ballot unless a poll worker decides that you are ineligible.[15]
Identification
If you are registering at the polls on Election Day, you will need to provide proof of residence at your polling place.[16]
Acceptable proof of residence for voters registering at the polls includes: a valid Minnesota driver’s license, learner’s permit, non-driver ID card, or a receipt for any of those three that shows your current address; a current student ID card (provided your name appears on a housing list your school has provided to the county auditor[17]); a tribal identification card that has your current address, signature and picture; prior registration in the same precinct with a former name or address on the roster; or a “Notice of Late Registration” letter.[18] You can also present any of the above IDs, or a U.S. passport, or a U.S. military ID, even if they do not show your current address, as long as you also present a bill that does show your current address.[19] The bills should be due within 30 days of the election, but a wide range of bills is accepted, including bills for telephone, television or internet provider services (regardless of how the service is delivered, such as cable or satellite TV; landline, cell or VOIP telephones, etc.); electric, gas, water, garbage, solid waste, or sewer.[20] A student fee statement, or rent statement dated within 30 days of the election that itemizes utilities, are also acceptable.[21] Bills may have been delivered electronically or by mail.[22] Minnesota also allows for proof of residence by voucher, which means that any registered voter in your precinct can vouch for you if they know you live in the election district.[23] This voucher then serves in the place of any other required forms of proof of residence.
Only first-time voters who register by mail and whose identifying numbers—i.e., your Minnesota driver’s license number, or non-driver ID card number, or the last four digits of your Social Security number—could not be verified by the state will have to show ID in order to vote. These voters must either include a photocopy of ID with their mail-in registration form, or show ID at the polls.[24]
Absentee
http://www.sos.state.mn.us/index.aspx?page=211
Voters who “reasonably expect” they will be unable to make it to their registered polling place on Election Day are entitled to vote absentee.[25] This includes students who are attending school away from the address they intend to vote from.[26] It also includes voters who expect to be absent due to illness or religious observance.[27] Applications for absentee ballots are due the day before the election, and you can mail, email, or fax your application,[28] but if you are planning to vote by mail, you should leave enough time for the ballot to be mailed to you and for you to mail it back. A blank application is available on the web site of the Secretary of State at the above link. Your application does not have to be witnessed.
If you mail in your ballot, it must be received by Election Day.[29] Your ballot also must be witnessed by another registered voter in Minnesota, or a notary, or another person who has the authority to administer oaths.[30] If you are registering at the same time you vote absentee, or if your registration is questioned or incomplete for some reason, you will have to show your witness one of the authorized proofs of residence.[31] If your witness is registered to vote in your precinct, your witness may also vouch for your proof of residence.[32]
Last Updated in April 2010
[1] Minn. Stat. Ann. § 201.054.
[2] See Minn. Stat. Ann. § 201.161.
[3] Minn. Stat. Ann. § 201.014.
[4] FairVote, “Voting Age and Registration,” available at http://www.fairvote.org/youth-preregistration-fact-sheet.
[5] Minn. Stat. Ann. § 200.031(a) (West 2010).
[6] Minn. Stat. Ann. § 200.031(h).
[7] Bell v. Gannaway, 227 N.W.2d 797, 801 (Minn. 1975); Piepho v. Burns, 652 N.W.2d 40, 44 (Minn. 2002).
[8] See Olson v. Zuehkle, 652 N.W.2d 37, 40 (Minn. 2002).
[9] Office of the Secretary of State, State of Minnesota, “Elections 101,” 2, available at http://www.sos.state.mn.us/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=4260. .
[10] Minn. Stat. Ann. § 201.195(1) (West 2010).
[11] Minn. Stat. Ann. § 201.195(1).
[12] Minn. Stat. Ann. § 201.195(1).
[13] Minn. Stat. Ann. §§ 201.195(2); 14.63.
[14] Minn. Stat. Ann. § 204C.12.
[15] Minn. Stat. Ann. § 204C.12 (West 2010).
[16] Minn. Stat. Ann. § 201.014.
[17] Minn. R. 8200.5100(3) (2010).
[18] Minn. R. 8200.5100(1)(B).
[19] Minn. R. 8200.5100(2).
[20] Minn. R. 8200.5100(2)(B).
[21] Minn. R. 8200.5100(2)(B) (2010).
[22] Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State, “Register to Vote,” available at http://www.sos.state.mn.us/index.aspx?page=204.
[23] Minn. Stat. Ann. § 201.061(3)(a)(4) (West 2010).
[24] Minn. Stat. Ann. § 201.061(1a).
[25] Minn. Stat. Ann. § 203B.02(1)(a) (West 2010).
[26] See Minn. Stat. Ann. § 203B.02(1)(a).
[27] Minn. Stat. Ann. § 203B.02(1)(a).
[28] Minn. Stat. Ann. § 203B.04(1).
[29] Minn. Stat. Ann. § 203B.08(1).
[30] Minn. R. 8210.0500(2) (2010).
[31] Minn. R. 8210.0500(3).
[32] See Minn. R. 8210.0600.
