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MN House divided: 2024 election leaves House split
The Minnesota House of Representatives is an even split after Election Day, but two races determined by just a handful of votes could lead to an automatic recount and change which party is in control.
SHERBURNE, Minn. (FOX 9) - Sherburne County will recount 2024 Election ballots by hand to confirm the accuracy of the results.
What we know
Some mail-in ballots reportedly failed to upload to the Minnesota Secretary of State's website on election night, which caused an updated vote count in the close Minnesota House of Representatives District 14B race.
Once the ballots were counted, they gave DFL Rep. Dan Wolgamott a slightly bigger lead in his race against Republican Sue Ek.
READ MORE: Delayed absentee ballot count in gives DFL larger lead in House 14B race, GOP demands investigation
Sherburne County officials addressed rumors that some votes were "lost" and "found" by emphasizing the "chain of custody was maintained" and all ballots were handled properly.
A news release from Sherburne County also states the totals on the local summary statements from election night have not changed.
What went wrong?
An "improperly cleared or partially damaged memory card" is being attributed to the failure to upload the votes, according to Sherburne County officials.
That memory card reportedly sent erroneous generic "test" data that was designed to test the reporting system before the election, creating inflated vote totals that later decreased after the error was discovered and corrected.
This data was sent to the Minnesota Secretary of State's Election Reporting System (ERS) and displayed unofficial results on the Secretary of State's Election Night Reporting website.
What comes next?
Sherburne County officials say they asked the Minnesota Secretary of State for permission to conduct a public recount by hand at the county's expense.
The county says they've been in communication with candidates about the error and the next steps in the count.
If a candidate requests it, Sherburne County can now recount races that no longer fall within the threshold for a mandatory publicly-funded recount.
Background
On Wednesday, Nov. 6, the Minnesota Secretary of State's Office had Wolgamott leading by fewer than 30 votes in the 14B race against Ek. Now Wolgamott leads with 191 votes after the additional ballots were counted, leaving him with 50.36% of the vote compared to Ek's 49.40%.
According to the Minnesota Secretary of State, a publicly-funded recount for an election for a state legislative office can happen if the results are within 0.5%. Since the new absentee ballots were counted, the 14B race margin is now outside the margin for a publicly-funded recount.
According to Sherburne County Administrator Bruce Messelt, the delayed upload of the ballots was limited to one scanner and "involved an incomplete transfer of data from that scanner to the state election reporting system."