Sherburne County Plans Public Hand Recount of Select Races Due to Ballot Upload Failure

(KNSI) — Sherburne County will conduct hand recounts of votes in select races, at its own expense, to confirm the accuracy of election results.

Some mail-in ballot totals accepted up to 8:00 p.m. on election night did not upload to the Secretary of State’s website due to an issue with a memory card. According to a press release, ballots were properly processed, counted, and included in the printed and electronic summary statements at Sherburne County on election night. The upload error happened due to an improperly cleared or partially damaged memory card, which prevented some processed mail-in ballot results from being fully transmitted to the Secretary of State’s Election Reporting System. This led to inaccurate, unofficial results being displayed. Additionally, the memory card wrongly transmitted test data used to verify the system before the election, causing inflated vote totals that were later corrected.

Attempts to resolve the upload issue on election night were unsuccessful, leading to continued discrepancies on the public reporting website. County staff identified the issue during standard election verification processes, matching local summary statements with the data on the Secretary of State’s Reporting website and preparing for Canvassing Board meetings.

Once the discrepancy was found, the County says it immediately notified the Secretary of State’s Office and uploaded an accurate set of unofficial election results. Affected candidates were also informed of the corrected unofficial results and the reasons for the update.

Sherburne County has requested permission from the Secretary of State to conduct public hand recounts, at the County’s expense, for close races most affected by the upload issue if a candidate requests them. Preliminary approval has been received to allow recounts in certain races that no longer meet the threshold for a mandatory publicly funded recount.

Contrary to rumors, officials say no votes were “lost” or “found.” All ballots cast in the General Election were legally received, documented, counted, and kept under a strict chain of custody.

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