Minn. House ready to vote on absentee ballot bill

Problems exposed during Minnesota's drawn-out Senate race in 2008 are the motivation behind an elections bill drawing closer to a state House vote.

Lawmakers were planning to vote as early as Monday on a proposal designed to clean up the state's absentee voting system, or at least start to.

The bill headed for a House vote requires local elections administrators to use ballot boards to deal with absentee ballots. It also would streamline the process for tracking the status of absentee ballots and making sure voters using them are properly registered.

Rejected absentee ballots played a central role in the recount and court case leading up to Sen. Al Franken's win over Republican Norm Coleman.

A Senate plan is also awaiting a vote.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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