A bill that would overhaul absentee balloting practices passed the state House 131-2 and won preliminary approval in the Senate on Monday.

It would require special panels to review absentee ballots and tighten the procedure for linking absentee ballots to their envelopes, one of the problems that disqualified some voters in the 2008 Senate election.

Al Franken ultimately edged out Norm Coleman by only 312 votes in an election that wasn’t resolved until eight months after Election Day. Rejected absentee ballots were a major point of contention.

Ramsey County Elections Manager Joe Mansky said Minnesota’s voting system is already good, but the legislation will help patch up those problems that came under unprecedented scrutiny in the high-stakes contest. He said the absentee ballot panels would minimize errors and inconsistencies criticized in that race.

The bill would also require absentee voters to provide an ID number — a driver’s license, state identification card, the last four digits of a Social Security number or a statement that the voter doesn’t have these.