SCHOOL ELECTIONS: PETITIONS: Petition Rules promulgated by the Secretary of State 

generally apply to petition for school district referendum. School district clerks should perform 

the functions of “filing officer under those rules.:” Minn Stat. §§ 204B.071, 205A.05, subd. 1, 

205A.13 (2006); Minn. R. ch. 8205 

185-b 

(Cr.Ref. to 159-a-3) 

June 15, 2007 

Paul C. Ratwik 

Julia H. Halbach 

Ratwik, Roszak & Maloney, P.A. 

Suite 300, 730 Second Avenue South 

Minneapolis, MN 55402 

Dear Mr. Ratwik and Ms. Halbach: 

Thank you for your correspondence of April 24, 2007. In your letter you present the 

following facts: 

FACTS AND BACKGROUND 

You state that in November, 2006, the voters of Independent School District No. 15 (the 

“District”) passed a referendum authorizing the issuance of $6,500,000.00 in bonds to renovate 

the District’s high school. The District sold the bonds on April 3, 2007, and began to solicit bids 

for the reconstruction project. 

You state further that at its meeting on March 26, 2007, the School Board was presented 

with a petition for a special election. The petition presented two questions characterized as 

“bond questions.” The first question asks whether the proceeds from the April 3 bond sale 

should be “reallocated to a new fund for the construction of a new 2,100 student high school.” 

The second question calls for the approval by the voters of the District of $65,000,000 in general 

obligation bonds for the purpose of constructing a new high school. The petition was “filed” 

with the School Board, and requests that the questions be presented to the District’s voters at the 

November, 2007 general election. 

You state that, because the District includes areas in both Isanti and Anoka Counties, the 

District was uncertain who should serve as the “filing officer” for the petition pursuant to Minn. 

R. Ch. 8205 (2005) relating to the form, circulation, filing, and inspection of election-related 

petitions. The District contacted the Secretary of State’s Office to determine if the Secretary of 

State was the proper filing officer. The Secretary of State responded that because the election is 

not “for an office,” it is not the correct filing officer. As the District’s counsel you have 

determined that the applicable statutes, rules, and case law are unclear as to who serves as the 

filing officer. 

Based on this determination, the District submits the questions set forth below: 
Paul C. Ratwik and Julia H. Halbach 

May 24, 2007 

Page 2 

QUESTION 1: 

Does Minn. R. ch. 8205 apply to “any petition required for any election in this state,” as 

the Rules state? Specifically, does this Chapter apply to special school district elections relating 

to referendums? 

OPINION 

As qualified below we answer this question in the affirmative. 

Minn. Stat. § 205A.05, subd. 1 (2006) provides in part: 

Special elections must be held for a school district on a question on which the 

voters are authorized by law to pass judgment. The school board may on its own 

motion call a special election to vote on any matter requiring approval of the 

voters of a district. Upon petition of 50 or more voters of the school district or 

five percent of the number of voters voting at the preceding regular school district 

election, the school board shall by resolution call a special election to vote on any 

matter requiring approval of the voters of a district. The election officials for a 

special election are the same as for the most recent school district general election 

unless changed according to law. Otherwise, special elections must be conducted 

and the returns made in the manner provided for the school district general 

election. 

Minn. Stat. § 205A.13 (2006) provides: 

Any petition to a school board authorized in this chapter or sections 126C.17, 

126C.40, 126C.41 to 126C.48, and 124D.22, or any other law which requires the 

board to submit an issue to referendum or election, shall meet the requirements 

provided in section 204B.071. 

Minn. Stat. § 204B.071 (2006) provides: 

The secretary of state shall adopt rules governing the manner in which petitions 

required for any election in this state are circulated, signed, filed, and inspected. 

The secretary of state shall provide samples of petition forms for use by election 

officials. 

Minn. R. 8205.1040 provides: 

Subpart 1. Applicability. This part applies to any petition required for any 

election in this state, including nominating petitions, recall petitions, and 

proposed recall petitions. 
 

Paul C. Ratwik and Julia H. Halbach 

May 24, 2007 

Page 3 

Subp. 2. Definition of filing officer. As used in this part and part 8205.1050, 

“filing officer” refers to: 

A. the county auditor if a petition is for an office to be voted upon only in one 

county; or 

B. the secretary of state if a petition is for an office to be voted on in more 

than one county. 

Subp. 3. Filing procedures. The person filing the petition must submit the entire 

petition at one time to the filing officer. The petitioners may submit the petition 

by mail, messenger, or similar delivery service. Filing of a petition is effective 

upon receipt by the filing officer. Petition pages must not be altered by anyone 

except the filing officer for verification purposes after the petition has been filed. 

Subp. 4. Receipt. The filing officer must provide the person filing the petition 

with a receipt for the petition. The receipt must include the type of petition filed; 

the name, address, and telephone number of the person submitting the petition; 

the date on which the petition was filed; and the total number of pages in the 

petition submitted. 

(Emphasis added.) 

As originally proposed Part 8205.1040 did not include a separate definition of the term 

“filing officer.”1

 The present subpart 2 was added to the rule in response to the following 

statement in Finding 95 of the Report of the Administrative Law Judge on the Proposed Rules 

(copy enclosed): 

1 See Proposed Permanent Rules Relating to Elections, 24 State Register 1716, 1722 (2000). 

Election statutes themselves contain several references to the “filing officer” without providing a 

specific definition, apparently in the belief that the term’s meaning can be determined from the 

context in which it appears. See, e.g., Minn. Stat. §§ 10A.321, subd. 2; 10A.322, subd. 1(b); 

204B.09, subd. 1a, subd. 3; 204B.10, subd. 5, 6; 204B.11, subd. 1; 204B.13, subd. 5, 6; 204C.35, 

subd. 2; 205.13, subd. 1b; 205A.06, subd. 1c (2006). The only statutory definition of the term 

that we have located also relies upon reference to other authorities to determine identity. See 

Minn. Stat. § 211A.01, subd. 7 (2006), relating to campaign finance reports, which provides: 

“Filing officer” means the officer authorized by law to accept affidavits of 

candidacy or nominating petitions for an office or the officer authorized by law to 

place a ballot question on the ballot. 
 

Paul C. Ratwik and Julia H. Halbach 

May 24, 2007 

Page 4 

It appears that the identification of the “filing officer” will vary depending upon 

the precise nature of the petition being filed. Although the lack of a definition of t 

the “filing officer” does not render the proposed rules defective, the Secretary of 

State’s Office may wish to consider incorporating a definition of this term into the 

proposed rules, or including a cross-reference to an existing definition. Such a 

modification, if made, would serve to clarify the application of the proposed rules, 

would be within the scope of the matter announced in the notice of hearing, and 

would be a logical outgrowth of the comments submitted during the rulemaking 

proceeding. Accordingly, it would not make the rule substantially different from 

the rule as originally proposed. 

Id. Finding of Fact 95 at p. 20. 

A footnote to that finding refers to Minn. Stat. § 204B.09, subd. 1 (2000) which related 

only to filing of affidavits of candidacy and nominating petitions for county, state and federal 

offices to be filled at the state general election and contained no reference to school district 

elections or to elections on ballot questions. Nevertheless, the Secretary of State, in adopting the 

final rules included 8205.1040, subp. 2 which basically duplicates the limited filing directions of 

section 204B.09, subd. 1. In the Order Adopting the Permanent Rules, the Secretary of State 

stated: 

In accordance with Finding 95 of the Report, the Secretary has adopted the 

recommendation of the Administrative Law Judge by adding a new Subpart 2 to 

8205.1040 reading “Subp. 2. Definition of filing officer. As used in this part and 

part 8205.1050 ‘filing officer’ refers to: A. the county auditor if a petition is for 

an officer to be voted upon only in one county; or B. the secretary of state if a 

petition is for an office to be voted on in more than one county.” To implement 

this recommendation, the Secretary added the cross-reference to part 8205.1050 

since the term “filing officer” is used in that part as well. The Administrative 

Law Judge stated in Finding 95 that such a modification would not make the final 

rule substantially different from the rules as originally proposed. 

25 State Register 616, 618 (2000) There is nothing in the rule-making record, however, to 

indicate any intent that those definitions were to apply to school district referendum petitions. 

It is our opinion that the provisions of Minn. R. ch. 8205 apply to petitions for special 

school district referenda, to the extent that individual rules, as written, have relevance to such 

elections.2

 Indeed, section 205A.13 expressly states that petitions that require a school board to 

2

 Accordingly, a petition for a school district referendum will be subject to those provisions of 

chapter 8205 that apply to petitions generally, but will not be subject to rules that, by their 

express terms, apply only to petitions for other types of elections. 
 

Paul C. Ratwik and Julia H. Halbach 

May 24, 2007 

Page 5 

call elections must meet the requirements of Minn. Stat. § 204B.071, and chapter 8205 contains 

rules adopted pursuant to that section. 

Therefore, as so qualified, we answer your first question in the affirmative. 

QUESTION 2: 

Who is the proper filing officer for a school district special election petition when the 

school district sits in more than one county? If neither the Secretary of State nor county auditor 

is the proper filing officer, does the School District clerk serve as the filing officer, and what is 

the authority for this conclusion? 

It is clear from the plain language of Minn. R. 8205.1040, subp. 2 that the definitions of 

“filing officer” contained therein are not relevant to a petition for any election that does not 

involve any public office. Thus, it is our view that Minn. R. 8205.1040 simply does not provide 

an independent definition of the term for purposes of such elections. Consequently, the identity 

of the “filing officer” for school district referenda must be determined from other sources. Cf. In 

re Referendum to Amend City of Grand Rapids, Minn. Munic. Election Ord. No. 04-08-11 2006 

WL 1985595 (Minn. Ct. App.), wherein the court determined that, while the verification 

requirements of Minn. R. 8205.1050 applied to a petition for a municipal ordinance referendum, 

the definition of “filing officer” contained in Minn. R. 8205.1040, subp. 2 did not apply. 

Unlike the language of Minn. Stat. § 205.07 addressed in the Grand Rapids case, 

section 205A.05 does not specify any particular official with whom a petition is to be filed. It 

merely requires a school board to call an election “[u]pon petition of fifty or more voters...” The 

section does, however, state that “the election officials for a special election are the same as for 

the most recent school districts general election.” In that regard, the only school board official 

expressly designated to receive election-related filings is the clerk of the district. See, e.g., Minn. 

Stat. §§ 123A.48, subd. 11 (petition for referendum on school district consolidation); 123B.94, 

subd. 2, (candidates for office - common school dist.); 128D.05, subd. 2 (petitions for 

referendum on election year change in Sp. Sch. Dist. #1); 203B.05, subd. 2 (application for 

absentee ballots); 204C.36, subd. 1 (request for election recount); 205A.06, subd. 1 (candidate 

affidavits); 205A.09, subd. 2 (petition for longer voting hours); and 209.02, subd. 3 (notice of 

election contest on ballot question). 

As noted above, the only statutory definition of the term “filing officer” we have located 

defines it as the officer authorized by law to accept affidavits of candidacy or nominating 

petitions for an office or the officer authorized by law to place a ballot question on the ballot. 

See note 1, supra. In a school district, it is the clerk that accepts affidavits of candidacy, and also 

oversees placement of referendum questions on the ballot. See, Minn. Stat. § § 205A.06, 

205A.08, subd. 4. 
Paul C. Ratwik and Julia H. Halbach 

May 24, 2007 

Page 6 

For the foregoing reasons it is in our opinion that the District Clerk is the appropriate 

official to perform the functions of the “filing officer” under Minn. R. Ch. 8205 for petitions 

submitted pursuant to Minn. Stat. § 205A.05. 

Very truly yours, 

LORI SWANSON 

Attorney General 

KENNETH E. RASCHKE, JR. 

Assistant Attorney General 

AG: #1815807