SHERBURNE, Min. (FOX 9) – Sherburne County will tell 2024 Election Manual voting is done to confirm the accuracy of the results.

What do we know?

It was reported that some mail-in ballots failed to upload to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s website on election night, causing the vote count to be updated. Close the Minnesota House District 14B race.

After the ballots were counted, they gave DFL Rep. Dan Wolgamott a slightly larger lead in his race against Republican Sue Ek.

READ MORE: Delayed absentee vote count gives DFL bigger lead in House 14B race, GOP demands investigation

Sherburne County officials responded to rumors that some ballots were “lost” and “found” by emphasizing that the “chain of custody was maintained” and all ballots were conducted properly.

A news release from Sherburne County says totals in local summary returns from election night remain unchanged.

What went wrong?

According to Sherburne County officials, an “improperly cleaned or partially damaged memory card” has been linked to the failure to upload ballots.

This memory card reportedly sent erroneous public “test” data designed to test the reporting system before the election, creating inflated vote totals that were later reduced after the error was discovered and corrected.

This data was sent to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Election Reporting System (ERS), and unofficial results were displayed on the Secretary of State’s Election Night Reporting website.

What’s next?

Sherburne County officials said they are seeking permission from the Minnesota Secretary of State to conduct a public recount at the county’s expense.

The district said they are in communication with candidates about the error and next steps in the count.

If a candidate requests it, Sherburne County will now be able to recount races that do not fall within the publicly funded mandatory recount threshold.

Background

On Wednesday, November 6, the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office reported that Wolgamott was ahead by less than 30 votes in the 14B race against Annex. After additional votes were counted, Wolgamott was ahead by 191 votes, leaving her with 50.36% of the vote compared to Ek’s 49.40%.

A publicly funded recount in an election for a state legislative office can occur if the results are within 0.5 percentage points, according to the Minnesota Secretary of State. Since the new ballots were counted, the 14B race margin is now outside the publicly funded recount margin.

According to Sherburne County Executive Bruce Messelt, the delayed upload of ballots was limited to a single scanner and “involved incomplete transfer of data from that scanner to the state election reporting system.”