ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Senate has passed a proposal to permit voters to cast ballots early without an excuse.
Now, an early voter must sign a document stating he or she will be out of town or otherwise unable to get to a polling place on Election Day.
Under the proposal, voters could fill out a ballot four to 18 days before an election and feed it into a vote-counting machine.
The bill's sponsor, Sen. Katie Sieben, DFL-Newport, says she also designed the measure to fix problems with absentee ballots that came to light during Minnesota's still-undecided 2008 U.S. Senate race.
The measure will go to the House, which could pass a different version of the bill and the two chambers would have to compromise on a final version.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)