State Rep. Wolgamott widens lead in close race after county discovers mail-in ballot tally error

A narrow winning margin for the DFL candidate for a St. Cloud-area seat in the Minnesota House has widened. 

Election night returns showed DFL state Rep. Dan Wolgamott defeating Republican challenger Sue Ek by 28 votes in District 14B. A revised tally has the Wolgamott edge at 191 votes.

The race had been one of two state contests scheduled for recounts that could decide whether the Minnesota House is evenly split, with 67 Republicans and 67 DFLers.

But on Friday morning, Sherburne County announced that election staff identified some mail-in absentee ballots that were not included in the unofficial totals on election night. Those additional ballots gave Wolgamott a larger vote edge, which would put the race outside the margin for an automatic recount, barring any more changes.

County officials say it appears that data from a ballot-scanning machine at the Sherburne County Government Center in Elk River did not fully transfer to the state election reporting system. The delayed upload was limited to one scanner.

County Administrator Bruce Messelt said staff caught the discrepancy when they were reviewing data for the canvassing board, which certifies the election results. Until then, the vote counts remain unofficial.

“All of the ballots are here physically. They were all logged in,” Messelt said. “We’ve tracked (their) chain of custody, and they were actually counted on Election Day. They just did not get updated to the website for public viewing.”

Messelt said staff were aware of a file transfer issue on election night, but thought they had corrected it.

“I think with more time and more staff, we would have caught it earlier,” he said. “But the checks and balances allow for this. That's why they're called unofficial results. And as soon as we saw it, we did our job and investigated it and corrected it.”

Sherburne County officials say the late ballot tally switched the unofficial winners of two local races: for a school board seat in the Elk River-area school district, and for a city council seat in the newly incorporated city of Baldwin.

Messelt said the county would support proceeding with recounts in the close races, to ensure transparency and make sure people feel the elections were fair and accurate.

Peter Bartz-Gallagher, spokesperson for Secretary of State Steve Simon, confirmed in an email that the unofficial results in the House District 14B race are outside the margin for a publicly funded recount. He said the office did not have any further comment.

Ek did not immediately return a call requesting comment.

In a statement on Friday, Minnesota Republican Party Chair David Hann said the discrepancy “raises serious questions” and should be “investigated and explained to Minnesotans immediately.” Hann said Simon should call for — and provide funds for — a recount in the District 14B race.

DFLers and Republicans are gearing up for a recount in Shakopee. State Rep. Brad Tabke had an election night lead of 13 votes over Republican Aaron Paul. It is likely to be weeks before that recount occurs.

Correction (Nov. 9, 2024): An earlier version of this story misquoted Bruce Messelt regarding unofficial results. The story has been updated.

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