2026 Voter Guide Series

2026 Minnesota Voter Guide:
How the Rules Work

General election: Tuesday, November 3, 2026 • Published August 31, 2026

Series rule: objective facts and law only. Every factual statement is sourced or omitted. Candidate positions are attributed, never asserted. The guides make no endorsements; where the publisher has a personal position, it is disclosed on the page. Corrections: campaign@madgettformn.com.

A Minnesota voter guide. Facts and law only.

Drafted: August 28, 2026. Citation-verified: August 31, 2026, by independent retrieval of every statute, session law, and case cited, plus the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board's current spending-limit schedule. Statutes checked against: 2025 Minnesota Statutes, Office of the Revisor of Statutes, revisor.mn.gov, and Minnesota Session Laws 2025 and 2026, retrieved August 31, 2026.

About this piece

Most people picture an election as a neutral container: candidates go in, votes come out, and the law is the referee. That is only partly right. Minnesota's election statutes do something before any of that happens — they sort political parties into legal categories, and then attach different procedures, different deadlines, and different benefits to each category.

This guide lays out those categories and the differences that follow from them. Every factual statement carries the statute it comes from, so you can read the law yourself. It does not argue that the rules are good or bad, and it does not recommend a candidate or a party. It reports what the statutes say.

Two things worth knowing before you start:

Did You Know

Minnesota law recognizes three categories of political party — and a fourth situation for candidates with no party at all. A "political party" is "an association of individuals under whose name a candidate files for partisan office." Minn. Stat. § 200.02, subd. 6. On top of that baseline, the law defines "major political party" (subd. 7) and "minor political party" (subd. 23). A candidate who is with no party runs on a stated "political principle" instead. Minn. Stat. § 204B.07, subd. 1(c).

To be a major party, a party generally needs 8 percent of the statewide vote — or a very large slate of candidates. A party qualifies by running a candidate for governor/lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state auditor, attorney general, presidential elector, or U.S. senator who "received votes in each county in that election and received votes from not less than eight percent of the total number of individuals who voted in that election." Minn. Stat. § 200.02, subd. 7(b)(1). Alternatively, a party qualifies by presenting "at least 45 candidates for election to the office of state representative, 23 candidates for election to the office of state senator, four candidates for election to the office of representative in Congress, and one candidate for election to each of" governor and lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, and state auditor. § 200.02, subd. 7(b)(2). A third route is a petition signed by party members equal to "at least five percent of the total number of individuals who voted in the preceding state general election." § 200.02, subd. 7(b)(3).

Since 2023, major-party status also depends on how a party is internally organized. A major political party must maintain a party organization in the state, comply with its own constitution and rules, be "in compliance with the requirements of sections 202A.12 and 202A.13," and file a certification with the Secretary of State "no later than December 1 of each odd-numbered year." Minn. Stat. § 200.02, subd. 7(a). Those cross-referenced sections require a state convention held at least once every state general election year (§ 202A.12, subd. 1), a state central committee subject to the convention's control (§ 202A.12, subd. 2), a state executive committee (§ 202A.12, subd. 3), a party constitution filed with the Secretary of State (§ 202A.12, subd. 4), and local conventions and executive committees "for each congressional district and at least 45 counties or legislative districts" (§ 202A.13).

The minor-party threshold is 1 percent statewide — and 10 percent in a single legislative district. Statewide minor-party status requires a candidate for one of the listed statewide offices who "received votes in each county that in the aggregate equal at least one percent of the total number of individuals who voted in the election," or a nominating petition with signatures of party members "equal to at least one percent of the total number of individuals who voted in the preceding state general election." Minn. Stat. § 200.02, subd. 23(b)(3). To be a minor party in a single legislative district, the threshold is 10 percent of the vote for that legislative office, or a petition of 10 percent. § 200.02, subd. 23(e).

Major-party candidates get to the November ballot through the August primary. Everyone else gets there by petition. There is no third road. Minn. Stat. § 204B.03 provides: "Candidates of a major political party for any partisan office except presidential elector and all candidates for nonpartisan office shall apply for a place on the primary ballot by filing an affidavit of candidacy as provided in section 204B.06, and except as otherwise provided in section 204D.07, subdivision 3, shall be nominated by primary. Candidates for any partisan office who do not seek the nomination of a major political party shall be nominated by nominating petition as provided in sections 204B.07 and 204B.08."

The Minnesota Supreme Court described the same split in 2024. "For a partisan office other than presidential elector, candidates of a major political party receive a place on the ballot by filing an affidavit of candidacy, with nomination as the party's candidate in the general election then sought through a primary election. . . . In contrast, all other candidates for a partisan office, including minor political party candidates, must be nominated by petition, which requires obtaining a certain number of signatures before appearing on the general election ballot." Martin v. Simon, 6 N.W.3d 443 (Minn. 2024).

A candidate nominated by petition never appears on a primary ballot at all. The state primary exists "to select the nominees of the major political parties for partisan offices and the nominees for nonpartisan offices." Minn. Stat. § 204D.03, subd. 1. And no one may do both: "No individual who seeks nomination for any partisan or nonpartisan office at a primary shall be nominated for the same office by nominating petition." § 204B.04, subd. 2.

For a statewide office, a petition candidate needs signatures equal to 1 percent of the last general election's statewide turnout — or 2,000, whichever is less. Minn. Stat. § 204B.08, subd. 3(a). The other thresholds: a congressional office requires "five percent of the total number of individuals voting in the district at the last preceding state general election, or 1,000, whichever is less" (subd. 3(b)); a county or legislative office requires "ten percent of the total number of individuals voting in the county or legislative district at the last preceding state or county general election, or 500, whichever is less" (subd. 3(c)).

Every one of those signatures must be gathered inside a two-week window. "Nominating petitions shall be signed during the period when petitions may be filed as provided in section 204B.09." Minn. Stat. § 204B.08, subd. 1. That filing period runs "not more than 84 days nor less than 70 days before the state primary." § 204B.09, subd. 1(a). A signature collected before the window opens does not count. (A narrow exception exists for a candidate who will be out of state during the filing period; that candidate's petitions "may be signed during the 14 days immediately preceding the date when the affidavit of candidacy is filed." § 204B.09, subd. 1a(a).)

A voter who signs a nominating petition swears off voting in the primary for that office. The oath printed on every petition page reads: "I solemnly swear (or affirm) that I know the contents and purpose of this petition, that I do not intend to vote at the primary election for the office for which this nominating petition is made, and that I signed this petition of my own free will." Minn. Stat. § 204B.07, subd. 4. Making a false oath in signing a nominating petition "is guilty of perjury." § 204B.07, subd. 6.

A voter may sign only one nominating petition per office. "No individual may sign more than one nominating petition for candidates for the same office unless more than one candidate is to be elected to that office." Minn. Stat. § 204B.08, subd. 2. Only voters eligible to vote for that candidate may sign. Id.

A petition candidate may not use any part of a major party's name — except the word "independent." "No part of the name of a major political party may be used to designate the political party or principle of a candidate who files for a partisan office by nominating petition, except that the word 'independent' may be used to designate the party or principle." Minn. Stat. § 204B.07, subd. 1(c). The corresponding protection runs the other way too: "A major political party which has adopted a party name is entitled to the exclusive use of that name for the designation of its candidates on all ballots, and no candidate of any other political party is entitled to have printed on a ballot as a party designation any part of that name." § 202A.11, subd. 2.

No partisan candidate may call themselves "nonpartisan" on the ballot. Minn. Stat. § 204B.07, subd. 1(c); § 204D.13, subd. 3. A petition candidate's stated political principle is capped at three words. § 204B.07, subd. 1(c); § 204B.06, subd. 1(c).

The main pot of public campaign money goes only to major-party candidates. The Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board must distribute the general account "in equal amounts to all candidates of a major political party whose names are to appear on the ballot in the general election" who have signed a spending-limit agreement, filed an affidavit of contributions, and were opposed in the primary or general. Minn. Stat. § 10A.31, subd. 7(a). The Minnesota Supreme Court summarized the point: "Additional subsidies are available only to major political party candidates." Martin v. Simon, 6 N.W.3d 443 (Minn. 2024).

The second pot — the party accounts — requires a party. Party-account money is distributed "to the candidates of that party." Minn. Stat. § 10A.31, subd. 6. Only major parties, and minor parties that qualify statewide by July 1 of the taxable year, are eligible to receive the tax-return checkoff designations that fund those accounts. § 10A.31, subds. 3, 3a. A minor-party candidate can therefore reach party-account money; an independent candidate, having no party, cannot reach either account.

The $5 box on your tax return has no independent-candidate option. A Minnesota taxpayer may designate $5 (or $10 filing jointly) to "(1) one of the major political parties; (2) any minor political party that qualifies under subdivision 3a; or (3) all qualifying candidates as provided by subdivision 7." Minn. Stat. § 10A.31, subd. 3. Because subdivision 7 limits the general account to major-party candidates, option (3) does not reach an independent.

Of the general account, 4.2 percent is earmarked for attorney general; of each party account, 2.8 percent. Minn. Stat. § 10A.31, subd. 5(a)(2) and subd. 5(b)(2). Governor and lieutenant governor together draw 21 percent of the general account and 14 percent of each party account. § 10A.31, subd. 5(a)(1), (b)(1).

The political contribution refund, by contrast, is open to independent candidates. A taxpayer may claim a refund of political contributions, capped at $75 for an individual and $150 for a married couple filing jointly. Minn. Stat. § 290.06, subd. 23(a). For a contribution to a candidate, the refund is allowed only if the candidate has signed a spending-limit agreement under § 10A.322, is seeking an office for which voluntary spending limits are specified in § 10A.25, and has designated a principal campaign committee. § 290.06, subd. 23. Nothing in those three conditions turns on party status.

But the refund for a contribution to a party does turn on party status. For purposes of the refund, "political party" means "a major political party as defined in section 200.02, subdivision 7, or a minor political party qualifying for inclusion on the income tax or property tax refund form under section 10A.31, subdivision 3a." Minn. Stat. § 290.06, subd. 23.

Party organizations can give a candidate ten times what any individual can — and only parties have that channel. "A candidate must not permit the candidate's principal campaign committee to accept contributions from any political party units or dissolving principal campaign committees in aggregate in excess of ten times the amount that may be contributed to that candidate as set forth in subdivision 1." Minn. Stat. § 10A.27, subd. 2. A "party unit" is an organ of a "political party," which Chapter 10A defines as "a major political party or a minor political party." § 10A.01, subds. 29, 30. An independent candidate has no party unit.

On the primary ballot, only major parties get a column. "There must be at least three vertical columns on the ballot and each major political party shall have a separate column headed by the words '.......... Party,' giving the party name." Minn. Stat. § 204D.08, subd. 4. Column order runs from the major party that received the smallest average vote at the last state general election outward. § 204D.08, subd. 5.

On the general election ballot, for president and vice president, petition candidates are listed after the major parties. "The names of candidates nominated by petition for president and vice president shall be placed on the state general election ballot after the names of the candidates for that office who were nominated by major political parties." Minn. Stat. § 204D.13, subd. 2. Order among the petition candidates is then determined by lot. Id.

For every other partisan office, general-election names rotate — no party gets a fixed top spot. "Except as provided in subdivision 2, the names of candidates for partisan offices on the state general election ballot shall be rotated in the manner provided for rotation of names on state partisan primary ballots by section 204D.08, subdivision 3." Minn. Stat. § 204D.13, subd. 2a. That rotation is designed "so that the name of each candidate appears substantially an equal number of times at the top, at the bottom, and at each intermediate place in that group of candidates." § 204D.08, subd. 3.

If a candidate dies or becomes ineligible, only a major party gets to substitute someone. "A vacancy in nomination exists for a partisan office when a major political party candidate . . . (1) dies; (2) withdraws . . . ; or (3) is determined to be ineligible to hold the office the candidate is seeking, pursuant to a court order issued under section 204B.44." Minn. Stat. § 204B.13, subd. 1(a). A major party may then fill the vacancy by filing a nomination certificate. § 204B.13, subd. 2(a). Where the vacancy occurs after the 79th day before the general election, the votes for that office are not certified and the office is filled at a special election instead — but "[n]ew affidavits of candidacy or nominating petitions may not be accepted." § 204B.13, subd. 2(c). There is no parallel substitution mechanism for a minor-party or independent candidate.

Election judges come off lists supplied by the major parties, and precincts must be party-balanced. "On May 1 in a year in which there is an election for a partisan political office, each major political party shall prepare a list of eligible voters to act as election judges in each election precinct." Minn. Stat. § 204B.21, subd. 1. "At least two election judges in each precinct must be affiliated with different major political parties." § 204B.21, subd. 2. Voters who are not affiliated with a major party may be appointed, but only "[i]f no lists have been furnished or if additional election judges are required after all listed names in that municipality have been exhausted." Id.

Only major parties may put challengers inside a polling place at a partisan election. "At an election to fill partisan offices, the chair of an authorized committee of each major political party may appoint by written certificate voters from that political party to act as challengers of voters at the polling place for each precinct." Minn. Stat. § 204C.07, subd. 1. Nonpartisan candidates may appoint their own challengers at nonpartisan elections (subd. 2), but the partisan-election provision names only major parties.

The presidential nomination primary — a statewide election run at public expense — is a major-party-only event. "This chapter only applies to a major political party that selects delegates at the presidential nomination primary to send to a national convention." Minn. Stat. § 207A.11(d). "For purposes of this chapter, 'political party' or 'party' means a major political party as defined in section 200.02, subdivision 7, that is eligible to participate in the presidential nomination primary." § 207A.11(e).

When you vote in that primary, which party's ballot you requested is recorded — and handed to the major party chairs. "The voter must request the ballot of the party for whose candidate the individual wishes to vote. Notwithstanding section 204C.18, subdivision 1, the election judge must record in the polling place roster the name of the political party whose ballot the voter requested." Minn. Stat. § 207A.12(b). That data is private, "except that the secretary of state must provide to the chair of each major political party the list of voters who selected that party." § 201.091, subd. 4a.

Major-party precinct caucus night has statutory protection that no other party's meetings receive. On the day of a major political party precinct caucus, no city council, county board, township board, school board, or special taxing district may meet after 6:00 p.m. (Minn. Stat. § 202A.19, subd. 1); no state agency, board, commission, department, or committee may hold a public meeting after 6:00 p.m. (subd. 6); no public elementary or secondary school may hold a school-sponsored event after 6:00 p.m. (subd. 5); the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota State system may not schedule events after 6:00 p.m. without board permission (subd. 3); and no school official may refuse the use of a public school building for a caucus given 30 days' written notice (subd. 4).

Employees have a statutory right to leave work for a major-party caucus. "Every employee who is entitled to attend a major political party precinct caucus is entitled, after giving the employer at least ten days' written notice, to be absent from work for the purpose of attending the caucus during the time for which the caucus is scheduled without penalty or deduction from salary or wages on account of the absence other than a deduction in salary for the time of absence from employment." Minn. Stat. § 202A.19, subd. 2. (The leave is protected, not paid — the employer may deduct for the time away.)

The caucus date itself is set by two people. "The chairs of the two largest major political parties shall jointly submit to the secretary of state, no later than March 1 of each odd-numbered year, the single date on which the two parties have agreed to conduct their precinct caucuses in the next even-numbered year." Minn. Stat. § 202A.14, subd. 1(b)(1). "[T]he two largest major political parties shall be the parties whose candidates for governor received the greatest and second greatest number of votes at the most recent gubernatorial election." § 202A.14, subd. 1(b)(4). If they do not agree, the statute supplies a default date, and the caucus-day protections in § 202A.19 apply only on that date. § 202A.14, subd. 1(b)(3).

Major-party status, once earned, is sticky — and so is minor-party status. A party that qualifies "retains its major party status for at least two state general elections" even if it later falls short, and loses the status only after failing "at each of two consecutive state general elections." Minn. Stat. § 200.02, subd. 7(c), (d). The same two-election cushion applies to minor parties. § 200.02, subd. 23(c), (d).

The longer explanation

1. Three legal boxes, and a fourth situation

Minnesota does not have "the two-party system" written into a single statute. What it has is a set of definitions in Minn. Stat. § 200.02 that create tiers, and then dozens of operative provisions scattered across chapters 10A, 201, 202A, 204B, 204C, 204D, 207A, and 290 that hang a benefit, a procedure, or a duty off one of those tiers.

The bottom tier is "political party," which is barely a legal status at all: "an association of individuals under whose name a candidate files for partisan office." § 200.02, subd. 6. Above it sits "minor political party," which requires a state constitution, a designated state chair, a state convention in the last two years, a certification to the Secretary of State filed no later than December 31 following the most recent state general election, and either 1 percent of statewide vote or a 1 percent petition. § 200.02, subd. 23. At the top sits "major political party," which requires all of the organizational apparatus in §§ 202A.12 and 202A.13 plus one of the three qualification routes in subd. 7(b).

Then there is the candidate who is not with any party. That candidate is not in a box. Under § 204B.07, subd. 1(c), such a candidate states a "political principle" of three words or fewer on the nominating petition, and the law expressly permits "independent" as that designation.

2. Two roads to November

This is the structural heart of it.

If you are a major-party candidate, you file an affidavit of candidacy, pay a filing fee, and run in the August state primary. If you win, your name goes on the November ballot. If you are the only person who filed for that party's nomination, you are simply "declared the nominee upon the close of filing" and the office comes off the primary ballot entirely. § 204D.03, subd. 3(a).

If you are anyone else — minor party or independent — there is no primary for you. You file an affidavit of candidacy and a nominating petition, and if the petition has enough valid signatures, the filing officer certifies your name straight to the November ballot. §§ 204B.03, 204B.10, subds. 3, 4.

Neither road is inherently harder in the abstract. The difference is in what each demands. The primary road demands that you win an election in August against members of your own party. The petition road demands that you collect a fixed number of signatures inside a fixed 14-day window from voters who must simultaneously swear they do not intend to vote in the August primary for that same office.

3. The petition math, and the calendar

For a statewide office such as attorney general, the requirement is 1 percent of the last general election's statewide turnout or 2,000 signatures, whichever is less. § 204B.08, subd. 3(a). Whenever 1 percent of turnout exceeds 2,000 — which it does at any realistic Minnesota turnout level — the operative number is 2,000.

The calendar is the harder constraint. Signatures may be collected only during the filing period. § 204B.08, subd. 1. That period runs from the 84th day to the 70th day before the state primary. § 204B.09, subd. 1(a).

Applying that to 2026:

These dates are confirmed by direct computation from the statutory text — both § 204D.03, subd. 1 ("second Tuesday in August in each even-numbered year") and § 204B.09, subd. 1(a) ("not more than 84 days nor less than 70 days before the state primary") were retrieved and quoted verbatim from revisor.mn.gov, and the day-count was independently rechecked against a calendar for 2026. The Office of the Secretary of State's website (sos.mn.gov) blocks automated retrieval (it redirects every request through a Radware bot-detection challenge), so the Secretary of State's own published candidate filing calendar could not be cross-checked as an independent administrative confirmation. The statutory computation is sound; before publication, someone with a browser should pull up sos.mn.gov's 2026 candidate filing period page to confirm the Secretary of State's office computed the same dates.

A statewide independent candidate therefore has roughly two weeks to gather 2,000 valid signatures from voters willing to sign the § 204B.07, subd. 4 oath. A major-party candidate in the same race spends those same two weeks doing nothing more than filing an affidavit and a $300 fee. § 204B.11, subd. 1(a)(1).

4. The fee, and the way around it

Filing fees are identical regardless of party: $300 for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, state auditor, secretary of state, U.S. representative, and appellate and district judges; $400 for U.S. senator; $100 for the legislature; $50 for county office; $20 for soil and water conservation district supervisor. § 204B.11, subd. 1(a).

Any candidate may file a petition instead of paying the fee — 2,000 signatures for a statewide office, 1,000 for a congressional office, 500 for a county, legislative, or district judge office. § 204B.11, subd. 2. And a petition candidate can make one document serve both purposes: "A nominating petition filed pursuant to section 204B.07 is effective as a petition in place of a filing fee if the nominating petition includes a prominent statement informing the signers of the petition that it will be used for that purpose." Id. For a statewide race, both requirements happen to be 2,000 signatures, so one properly worded petition satisfies both.

5. Money

Minnesota's public campaign financing has two pots, both funded by the $5 checkoff on your income tax or property tax refund return. § 10A.31, subds. 1, 3, 4.

The general account. Distributed after the primary "in equal amounts to all candidates of a major political party whose names are to appear on the ballot in the general election" who signed a spending-limit agreement, filed an affidavit of contributions, and faced opposition. § 10A.31, subd. 7(a). The words "of a major political party" are doing the work: an independent candidate who satisfies every other condition still does not qualify.

The party accounts. Distributed to "the candidates of that party," and only parties that qualify for the tax-form checkoff have accounts — major parties, and minor parties that qualified statewide by July 1 of the taxable year. § 10A.31, subds. 3a, 6. A minor-party candidate can therefore draw party-account money. An independent candidate has no account to draw from.

The political contribution refund. This one runs the other way. Any Minnesota taxpayer may claim back up to $75 (or $150 jointly) of what they gave to candidates and parties. § 290.06, subd. 23(a). For contributions to a candidate, the three conditions are a signed spending-limit agreement, an office covered by § 10A.25 spending limits, and a designated principal campaign committee — none of which mention party. § 290.06, subd. 23. An independent candidate for attorney general who signs the agreement can issue refund receipts to donors exactly as a major-party candidate can. For contributions to a party, though, only major parties and qualifying minor parties count. Id.

Party-unit contributions. Separately from public money, a candidate may accept from party units up to ten times what any single individual may give. § 10A.27, subd. 2. For attorney general the individual limit is $2,500 in the election segment (§ 10A.27, subd. 1(a)(2)), so the party-unit aggregate ceiling is ten times that figure — a limit the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board's current published schedule confirms is $25,000 for the 2025–2026 election cycle segment. Only major and minor parties have party units. § 10A.01, subds. 29, 30.

The strings attached. Public subsidy and the refund both run through the spending-limit agreement in § 10A.322 and the affidavit of contributions in § 10A.323. Those requirements are party-neutral on their face. An attorney general candidate must accumulate $15,000 in contributions from Minnesota-eligible voters, "counting only the first $50 received from each contributor, excluding in-kind contributions." § 10A.323(a)(1)(ii). The spending-limit agreement must be filed "at least three weeks before the candidate's state primary" and "may not be rescinded." § 10A.322, subd. 1(b).

The spending limit itself, for 2026. Minn. Stat. § 10A.25, subd. 2 states dollar limits, but those figures are not static — § 10A.255 requires the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board to recompute them by a Consumer Price Index formula "each general election year" and publish the adjusted amounts on its website "by April 15 of each election year"; the Revisor then codes the adjusted figures "in the next edition" of the statute books. § 10A.255, subds. 1, 3. That lag means the dollar amounts printed in the current, 2025-dated statute book are already out of date for the 2025–2026 cycle. The Board's currently published 2025–2026 election-cycle-segment schedule — a document titled "Contribution and Spending Limits," retrieved from cfb.mn.gov on August 31, 2026 — sets the attorney general campaign expenditure limit at $839,600 (base), $923,560 for a candidate running for that office for the first time (the 10 percent first-time-candidate increase under § 10A.25, subd. 2(d)), $1,007,520 for a candidate with a closely contested primary (the 20 percent increase under § 10A.25, subd. 5), and $1,108,272 for a first-time candidate with a closely contested primary. This is party-neutral: the same schedule applies to any attorney general candidate — major-party or independent — who signs the § 10A.322 agreement. None of these dollar figures determine ballot access or party status; they set the cap a signing candidate cannot exceed in exchange for public subsidy eligibility.

6. The ballot itself

On the primary ballot, the structure is explicitly two-party-shaped: the ballot must have at least three vertical columns, each major party gets its own column, and if there are only two major parties, one takes the left column, one takes the right, and the center column carries the instruction "Do not vote for candidates of more than one party." § 204D.08, subd. 4. Petition candidates are not on this ballot at all.

On the general election ballot, the picture is more even than people assume.

For president and vice president, party status controls order: major-party tickets first, in ascending order of their average statewide vote last time, then petition-nominated tickets, ordered by a drawing of lots the Secretary of State must conduct "[n]o later than 11 weeks before the state general election." § 204D.13, subd. 2.

For every other partisan office — including attorney general — names rotate. § 204D.13, subd. 2a. The rotation is engineered "so that the name of each candidate appears substantially an equal number of times at the top, at the bottom, and at each intermediate place in that group of candidates." § 204D.08, subd. 3. In an attorney general race, the independent candidate's name appears first on the ballot in about as many precincts as anyone else's.

The candidate's party or political principle prints above or below the name for every partisan candidate. § 204B.36, subd. 2; § 204D.13, subd. 3.

7. What happens when something goes wrong

If a major-party nominee dies, is found ineligible, or withdraws under the narrow catastrophic-illness provision, a "vacancy in nomination" exists and the party may name a replacement by certificate. § 204B.13, subds. 1, 2. If the vacancy occurs on or before the 79th day before the general election, the new name goes on the ballot. § 204B.13, subd. 2(b). If it occurs later, the ballot stays as printed, the votes for that office are not certified, and the office is filled at a special election the following February — with the same candidates, because "[n]ew affidavits of candidacy or nominating petitions may not be accepted." § 204B.13, subds. 2(c), 7.

The statute's operative words are "a major political party candidate." § 204B.13, subd. 1(a). If an independent or minor-party candidate dies after the ballots are printed, § 204B.13 does not supply a replacement mechanism.

8. Running the election

Three provisions build the major parties into election administration itself.

Election judges. Each major party prepares a precinct-by-precinct list of willing election judges by May 1 of a partisan election year and files it electronically with the Secretary of State, who distributes it to county auditors by May 15. § 204B.21, subd. 1. Appointing authorities draw from those lists, and "[a]t least two election judges in each precinct must be affiliated with different major political parties." § 204B.21, subd. 2. Unaffiliated voters may serve, but the statute reaches them only after the party lists are exhausted. Id.

Challengers. At a partisan election, the chair of an authorized committee of each major political party may appoint one challenger per precinct to observe and challenge voters. § 204C.07, subd. 1. Minor parties and independent candidates are not named in that subdivision.

The presidential nomination primary. Minnesota runs a statewide, publicly administered presidential primary, and Chapter 207A "only applies to a major political party that selects delegates at the presidential nomination primary to send to a national convention." § 207A.11(d). Voters must request a party's ballot, that choice is recorded in the polling place roster, and the Secretary of State provides each major party chair the list of voters who took that party's ballot. §§ 207A.12(b), 201.091, subd. 4a. The results "must bind the election of delegates in each party." § 207A.12(d).

Caucus night. Minnesota law clears the civic calendar for major-party precinct caucuses. Local government bodies, state agencies, public schools, and the state's public universities are restricted from meeting or holding events after 6:00 p.m. that night; public school buildings must be made available on 30 days' notice; and employees have a protected right to leave work to attend, on ten days' written notice. § 202A.19, subds. 1–6. The date is fixed by joint submission from the chairs of the two largest major parties. § 202A.14, subd. 1(b).

9. What the rules treat the same

An accurate account has to include the parts that do not differ:

How to check any of this yourself

Every statute cited here is free and public. Go to revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/ and add the section number — for example, revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/200.02. Each page shows the current text, a "Recent History" panel listing every recent amendment, and a History line at the bottom tracing the section back to its original session law. Nothing here requires a subscription database.

One caution from the verification pass behind this guide: the dollar amounts printed inside § 10A.25, subdivision 2, are not automatically current. That section is adjusted for inflation every general election year, and the Legislature's own online codification lags a full cycle behind the adjustment (see "The spending limit itself, for 2026" above). If you look up a spending-limit dollar figure directly in the statute, check it against the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board's published schedule at cfb.mn.gov, not the number printed in the statute book.

Sources

All statutory text retrieved from the Office of the Revisor of Statutes, 2025 Minnesota Statutes, on August 28, 2026, and independently re-retrieved and checked line-by-line against the same source on August 31, 2026. Session laws retrieved directly (with tracked-changes markup) from revisor.mn.gov on August 31, 2026.

Chapter 10A — Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure - Minn. Stat. § 10A.01 (definitions) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/10A.01 - Minn. Stat. § 10A.25 (spending limits) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/10A.25 - Minn. Stat. § 10A.255 (CPI adjustment) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/10A.255 - Minn. Stat. § 10A.27 (contribution limits) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/10A.27 - Minn. Stat. § 10A.31 (designation of income tax payments; public subsidy) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/10A.31 - Minn. Stat. § 10A.322 (spending limit agreements) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/10A.322 - Minn. Stat. § 10A.323 (affidavit of contributions) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/10A.323 - Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board, "2025–2026 Election Cycle Segment: Contribution and Spending Limits" (PDF) — https://cfb.mn.gov/pdf/camfin/contrib_limits_2026.pdf (retrieved Aug. 31, 2026)

Chapter 200 — Elections; Definitions - Minn. Stat. § 200.02 — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/200.02

Chapter 201 — Voter Registration - Minn. Stat. § 201.091 — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/201.091

Chapter 202A — Political Party Caucuses and Conventions - Minn. Stat. § 202A.11 (party name) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/202A.11 - Minn. Stat. § 202A.12 (state convention, authority) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/202A.12 - Minn. Stat. § 202A.13 (committees, conventions) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/202A.13 - Minn. Stat. § 202A.14 (precinct caucus) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/202A.14 - Minn. Stat. § 202A.19 (caucus day protections) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/202A.19

Chapter 204B — Elections; Administration - Minn. Stat. § 204B.03 (manner of nomination) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/204B.03 - Minn. Stat. § 204B.04 (candidacy; prohibitions) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/204B.04 - Minn. Stat. § 204B.06 (affidavit of candidacy) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/204B.06 - Minn. Stat. § 204B.07 (nominating petitions) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/204B.07 (subd. 1 amended for 2026 by 2026 c 101 s 20, as to the residence-address/email-address items in subd. 1(b) only; the political-principle/"independent" language in subd. 1(c) quoted in this guide is unchanged) - Minn. Stat. § 204B.08 (signing petitions) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/204B.08 - Minn. Stat. § 204B.09 (time and place of filing) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/204B.09 - Minn. Stat. § 204B.10 (affidavits and petitions; duties) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/204B.10 - Minn. Stat. § 204B.11 (filing fees; petition in place of fee) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/204B.11 - Minn. Stat. § 204B.13 (vacancy in nomination) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/204B.13 - Minn. Stat. § 204B.21 (appointment of election judges) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/204B.21 - Minn. Stat. § 204B.36 (ballots; form) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/204B.36

Chapter 204C — Elections; Conduct - Minn. Stat. § 204C.07 (challengers) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/204C.07

Chapter 204D — Elections; State - Minn. Stat. § 204D.03 (time of state elections) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/204D.03 - Minn. Stat. § 204D.08 (state primary ballots) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/204D.08 - Minn. Stat. § 204D.13 (ballot; partisan offices) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/204D.13

Chapter 207A — Presidential Nomination Primary - Minn. Stat. § 207A.11 — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/207A.11 - Minn. Stat. § 207A.12 — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/207A.12

Chapter 290 — Income and Franchise Taxes - Minn. Stat. § 290.06, subd. 23 (political contribution refund) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/290.06 - Laws 2025, 1st Spec. Sess. ch. 13, art. 1, § 9 (amending § 290.06, subd. 23; effective for contributions made after December 31, 2026) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2025/1/Session+Law/Chapter/13/

2026 session law (checked for amendments to sections cited above) - Laws 2026, ch. 101 (H.F. 4239) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2026/0/Session+Law/Chapter/101/ (amends § 204B.07, subd. 1, and § 10A.27, subds. 2 and 10, among others; neither amendment affects the specific text quoted in this guide)

Case law - Martin v. Simon, 6 N.W.3d 443 (Minn. 2024) — https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10706982/ken-martin-v-steve-simon-minnesota-secretary-of-state-the-legal/ (full opinion text retrieved and both quotations checked verbatim against it)

What this guide could not verify

  1. The Secretary of State's own filing-calendar page (sos.mn.gov). The site is protected by a bot-detection service that blocks automated retrieval — every request redirects through a challenge page rather than returning content. The May 19–June 2, 2026 filing-period dates in this guide rest on independently rechecked arithmetic applied to the statutory text (§ 204D.03, subd. 1, and § 204B.09, subd. 1(a), both quoted verbatim above), not on the Secretary of State's own published calendar. Someone with a browser should confirm sos.mn.gov states the same dates before this guide is published.
  2. Whether any other 2026 session-law amendment not specifically checked here affects a cited section. Two 2026 amendments were located and checked directly (Laws 2026, ch. 101, amending § 204B.07, subd. 1, and § 10A.27, subds. 2 and 10); neither changes the language quoted in this guide. A general search of the entire 2026 session for amendments to every other section cited here was not performed. The Revisor's "Recent History" panel for each section (linked in Sources) is the fastest way to check any individual section for a change not yet reflected in the 2025 statute book.
  3. § 290.06, subd. 23 paragraph lettering during the transition. Laws 2025, 1st Spec. Sess. ch. 13, art. 1, § 9 relabels the paragraphs of this subdivision, effective only for contributions made after December 31, 2026. For a contribution made during 2026, the three candidate-eligibility conditions sit in paragraph (b); for a contribution made in 2027 or later, the same three conditions sit in paragraph (c). Both versions were checked directly against the session law's own deleted-text/new-text markup. The $75/$150 caps are unchanged either way. This guide cites the subdivision without a paragraph letter to avoid stating the wrong one for a given contribution date.
  4. Constitutional-challenge history. Day v. Holahan, 34 F.3d 1356 (8th Cir. 1994), was located and its opening pages read to check whether it bears on any provision quoted here. It addresses Minn. Stat. § 10A.25, subd. 13 (an independent-expenditure matching-subsidy provision that is not discussed in this guide) — not the major-party-only distribution rule in § 10A.31, subd. 7. It is not cited in this guide. This check is not a substitute for a full citator/Shepardizing pass; CourtListener, the tool used for case verification, does not provide one.
  5. Statewide turnout figures. This guide deliberately does not state a specific 2024 or 2026 statewide turnout number. It states the statutory rule instead (1 percent of turnout or 2,000, whichever is less).
  6. Whether Mr. Madgett's own 2026 candidacy warrants a disclosure note. This piece explains ballot-access and campaign-finance rules generally; it does not compare candidates or discuss Mr. Madgett's primary result. Editorial call on whether a disclosure line is still warranted given his campaign publishes it — not a legal question.
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