MN SF2629

Appropriates $300,000 in fiscal year 2010 from the Help America Vote Act account for grants up to $300 per polling place to counties with fewer than 50,000 registered voters to defray operating costs of assistive voting and vote-counting equipment.

Appropriates $2,100,000 in fiscal year 2010 from the Help America Vote Act account for grants up to $4,000 per precinct to counties to purchase optical scan voting equipment to replace equipment purchased before December 31, 2002.

Establishes grant application deadlines (August 1, 2010 for assistive equipment operating costs; December 1, 2010 for optical scan equipment) and requires counties to maintain federal audit-compliant financial records and report expenditures to the secretary of state.

Amends Minnesota Statutes section 318.02 to remove the $150 filing fee requirement for declarations of trust and simplifies filing procedures.

Amends Minnesota Statutes section 557.01 to change the filing fee for nonresident property interest agents from 15 cents per folio to a flat $50 filing fee.