BLAINE, Minn. – (May 16, 2019) – A bill that could be up for vote next year in Saint Paul may make it easier for more people to work as election judges.
The League of Minnesota Cities is helping lawmakers understand ways to change law to have more people participate in local elections. One requirement currently in state law is, “no more than half of the election judges in a precinct may be members of the same political party,” in most cases.
“We hope that’ll just get us to be able to recruit judges more. A lot of judges don’t want to make that declaration anymore, because they’re in it for a non-partisan reason, and, especially at the city level, for city races, it’s non-partisan anyway,” said Blaine City Clerk Cathy Sorenson.
A bill introduced this session would get rid of that requirement, and Sorenson is among those who has helped the league work with lawmakers on the bill.
“We hope that’ll just get us to be able to recruit judges more. A lot of judges don’t want to make that declaration anymore, because they’re in it for a non-partisan reason, and, especially at the city level, for city races, it’s non-partisan anyway,” Sorenson said.
The bill came up late in this year’s session but it could come back up early in 20-20 at the state capitol.
