Faribault County ballots given to voters with incorrect candidate information
(ABC 6 News) – Friday, September 20 marked the first day of early voting in Minnesota, but issues are already arising.
Ballots given to voters in Faribault County incorrectly label the political party affiliation of the two candidates running for State Representative District 23A.
Incumbent Peggy Bennett (R-Albert Lea) is listed as a member of the DFL party, while her opponent, Joe Staloch – a Democrat – is listed as the Republican option.
The Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office did not respond to request for an interview, but released the following statement in regard to the ballot misprint:
“The Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State is aware of a localized ballot error impacting Faribault County voters in State Representative District 23A. The ballots incorrectly identify the candidates’ parties. Seventeen ballots were issued with this error. County officials discovered the misprint on September 20 and will be pursuing corrective action through the courts including instructions for voters who already received and returned an incorrect ballot to ensure their vote is counted correctly.
“This error is limited only to ballots issued by Faribault County. The ballots for State Representative District 23A issued by Freeborn, Steele, and Waseca counties accurately list the candidates’ parties.
“The Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State does not prepare ballots for counties. Each of Minnesota’s 87 counties are responsible for preparing ballots in collaboration with their ballot programming and printing vendors, including the sample ballots posted to mnvotes.gov.
“The Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State is responsible for providing a list of certified candidate names to all counties, and that certification along with political party affiliation was provided accurately and on time. In addition, recognizing the importance of accuracy, the office has provided extra training and resources this year to all counties on how to proof ballots to ensure that errors like this are not missed in the proofing process.
“In every election, despite the best efforts of our hard-working county election officials, mistakes happen. Our office is thankful for the swift action of Faribault County officials after learning of the error and is committed to partnering with them where appropriate to ensure this mistake is remedied for all impacted voters as soon as possible.”
However, Bennett says the fault for this error lies with the Secretary of State’s Office, not the Faribault County Auditor’s Office, who she’d been in contact with multiple times on Friday and says were “working hard all day to clean up a mess they didn’t create.”
Friday morning, one of Bennett’s constituents asked her when she became a Democrat, saying he cast his ballot for her opponent, Joe Staloch, mistakenly believing he was the Republican candidate due to the ballot misprint.
Staloch declined an interview, but provided ABC 6 News with a statement saying:
“I was made aware of this issue earlier today. I also know that the Secretary of State’s office and Faribault County are working swiftly and diligently to ensure every voter’s ballot is correct.”
According to Bennett, election officials in Faribault County are not allowed to tell voters about the misprint before they vote, but claim they will contact voters afterward and let them know they can vote again if they wish.
“That’s good, but it’s not good for the system,” said Bennett. “People get busy and, you know, can’t maybe vote. These people are all farther away from the county seat in the rural areas and it’s a big deal for them to have to drive in and revote.”
Bennett says the ballot misprint raises major concerns regarding election integrity.
“All these things add up to people not trusting the system, and that’s not a partisan thing. Everybody on both sides of the aisle needs to trust that we have a secure election system where they know their vote will count,” said Bennett.
Chair of the Faribault County DFL, Dan Woodring, declined an interview, but provided ABC 6 News the following statement:
“At this time, we do not know how many ballots had been sent out with this mistake. We do know that the error has been corrected going forward, and that those who received the ballots with the incorrect party affiliation will be sent information on how they can correct their vote if they need to. We want to be clear that we don’t want to see any votes counted that are contrary to the intention of the voter. And we really don’t expect this to be the case. This error was caught early, corrective measures are being sent to those who received the erroneous ballots. Mistakes happen, and the right things have been done to make it right. How will this impact the election? It won’t. Peggy Bennett will, unfortunately, get about the same percentage of votes as she has in previous elections. Not because she presents good policies, or she is recognized for her name or values, or that she has accomplished anything for her constituents. People don’t vote for Peggy Bennett. They don’t vote for her policies. They vote for the ‘(R)’ behind her name. Nonetheless, the misprinted ballots are no threat to Mrs. Bennett. The only thing she need to fear is people looking at her record.”
Faribault County election officials are working with the Secretary of State’s Office to fix the error and print new, correct ballots as soon as possible.