2023 Minnesota Statutes › Chapters 200 - 212 — Elections › Chapter 205A — School District Elections › Section 205A.03 — Primaries.

205A.03 PRIMARIES.
Subdivision 1.
Resolution requiring primary in certain circumstances.
The school board of a school district may, by resolution adopted by April 15 of any year, decide to choose nominees for school board by a primary as provided in this section. The resolution, when adopted, is effective for all ensuing elections of board members in that school district until it is revoked. If the board decides to choose nominees by primary and if there are more than two candidates for a specified school board position or more than twice as many school board candidates as there are at-large school board positions available, the school district must hold a primary.
Subd. 2.
Date.
The school district primary must be held on the second Tuesday in August in the year when the school district general election is held. The clerk shall give notice of the primary in the manner provided in section 205A.07. The date of a school district primary held in an odd-numbered year may be postponed for inclement weather as provided in section 205A.055.
Subd. 3.
Candidates, filing.
The clerk shall place upon the primary ballot without partisan designation the names of individuals whose candidacies have been filed and for whom the proper filing fee has been paid. When not more than twice as many school board candidates as there are at-large school board positions available file for nomination for the office or when not more than two candidates for a specified school board position file for nomination for that office, their names must not be placed upon the primary ballot and must be placed on the school district general election ballot as the nominees for that office. When more than one school board member is to be elected for full terms at the same election, the candidates' names shall be placed under one office on the ballot with the number to be elected to the office specified directly underneath the title and identification of the office.
Subd. 4.
Results.
(a) The school district primary must be conducted and the returns made in the manner provided for the state primary as far as practicable. If the primary is conducted:
(1) only within that school district, a canvass may be conducted on either the second or third day after the primary; or
(2) in conjunction with the state primary, the canvass must be conducted on the third day after the primary, except as otherwise provided in paragraph (b).
The school board of the school district shall canvass the returns, and the two candidates for each specified school board position who receive the highest number of votes, or a number of candidates equal to twice the number of individuals to be elected to at-large school board positions who receive the highest number of votes, are the nominees for the office named. Their names must be certified to the school district clerk who shall place them on the school district general election ballot without partisan designation and without payment of an additional fee.
(b) Following a school district primary as described in paragraph (a), clause (2), a canvass may be conducted on the second day after the primary if the county auditor of each county in which the school district is located agrees to administratively review the school district's primary voting statistics for accuracy and completeness within a time that permits the canvass to be conducted on that day.
Subd. 5.
Recount.
A losing candidate at the school district primary may request a recount of the votes for that nomination subject to section 204C.36.
Subd. 6.
[Repealed, 2011 c 65 s 9]
History:
1987 c 266 art 1 s 50; 1994 c 646 s 16,17; 1Sp2003 c 9 art 2 s 43-45; 2008 c 295 s 18; 2010 c 184 s 31,32; 2010 c 194 s 23; 2010 c 201 s 67; 2011 c 65 s 7; 2016 c 161 art 1 s 15