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Absentee Balloting Cities Could Be Required to Transition to Government Web Domain
The Senate Elections Committee heard and approved a bill that would require cities that administer absentee balloting to begin transitioning to a .gov web domain by June 1, 2026.
SF 4039 (Sen. Bonnie Westlin, DFL-Plymouth) was heard in the Senate Elections Committee on Feb. 29. The bill would require cities that administer absentee voting transition to a .gov web domain by June 1, 2026.
The bill was amended in committee to soften the initial deadline, requiring that cities begin the transition by requesting a .gov web domain by June 1, 2026, and finish the transition completely by June 1, 2028.
Read the adopted amendment (pdf).
Background
In recent years, many cities have begun the process of transitioning their websites to a .gov domain. These domains are considered a “top-level domain” that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) administers. The .gov domain is only available to U.S.-based government organizations and publicly controlled entities. This can increase public trust in government websites and help residents easily identify official election websites on the internet.
Learn more and request a .gov domain.
City impact
While it is free to request and receive a .gov domain, there are costs associated with transitioning web domains. Jurisdictions that do not have dedicated web management staff will likely need to work with their web provider to make the transition. Additionally, while it is not required in the bill, cities may consider also changing their email systems to .gov for consistency. These changes, in addition to changing any city materials and communications to reflect the new website, can add up in costs for cities.
Read the full letter the League submitted to the committee detailing the impact to cities (pdf).
Next steps for the bill
SF 4039 was approved by the committee and rereferred to the Senate State and Local Government and Veterans Committee. Its companion, HF 4132 (Rep. Bianca Virnig, DFL-Eagan), has not yet been scheduled for a hearing. League staff will continue to monitor the bill and provide feedback regarding its impacts to cities.