Minnesota will be getting some new election equipment thanks to a new law passed with bi-partisan support and signed by Governor Dayton. Secretary of State Steve Simon says much of the equipment had been paid for with federal money more than a decade ago. He says cities, counties and sometimes even townships are “really in a jam that they’re not responsible for. The money that paid for the stuff before has dried up, it’s expensive to replace–about $10,000 per polling place and that risks…kind of…the quality of elections.” Simon says voting gear in the larger, metro areas is in good shape already, but “where this will really help is mostly outside the metro area where counties, cities and townships for whatever reason are going to have a tough time on their own completely replacing this stuff.” The law creates a seven-million-dollar grant to put new equipment in place by 2018. The grant provides a 50-percent match between states and counties for mandatory equipment, and up to a 75-percent match for electronic poll books.