Has Sue Ek come face-to-face with DFL hijinks?

Apparently, Minnesota state and county employees aren't that attentive to details. Last night, a frequent reader of this blog sent me a statement from House Speaker-designate Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring." She issued the following statement regarding vote tabulation errors, malfunctions, and discrepancies that have taken place in Sherburne and Scott Counties:

The errors and discrepancies we've seen this cycle are intolerable and unacceptable. A free and fair election demands sunlight on the process. These incidents fuel distrust and raise questions about the integrity and accuracy of election results.

Without an opportunity to observe or respond Sherburne County added newly-found votes to the total. Just a day later, Scott County announced an unspecified "ballot distribution error" and "ballot scanning malfunction" that triggered an abrupt re-scan of more than 20,000 ballots. There was less than two hours notice between the public announcement and the beginning of the re-scan process.

Actions by county officials to prevent campaign staff and the public from recording or broadcasting a public re-scan taking place in a government building raises additional concerns. The incidents on election night and in St. Cloud and Shakopee demand a response and accountability from the Secretary of State, and the legislature must explore election reforms to ensure these problems do not occur in the future.

The errors and malfunctions both impacted races that ended on election night within the margin for a publicly funded recount (0.5%) for Districts 14B and 54A. A summary of the progression since election night is below.The errors and malfunctions both impacted races that ended on election night within the margin for a publicly funded recount (0.5%) for Districts 14B and 54A. A summary of the progression since election night is below.The errors and malfunctions both impacted races that ended on election night within the margin for a publicly funded recount (0.5%) for Districts 14B and 54A. A summary of the progression since election night is below.The errors and malfunctions both impacted races that ended on election night within the margin for a publicly funded recount (0.5%) for Districts 14B and 54A. A summary of the progression since election night is below.

Sequence of Events

14B

11/5, approximately 11:00PM: With 100% of precincts reporting, 14B Candidate Sue Ek led by 4 votes.

11/5, approximately 11:30PM: Vote totals are updated, without explanation, resulting in Ek trailing by 28 votes.

11/7, 9:00PM: Sherburne County announces a "delayed upload" that involved an "incomplete transfer of data" from the scanner to the election reporting system, resulting in a 191 vote deficit for Ek. Ballots were counted and results were uploaded without advance notice to the campaign or the opportunity to observe the process.

54A

11/5, approximately 10:45PM: With 100% of precincts reporting, 54A Candidate Aaron Paul led by 360 votes.

11/5, approximately 11:15PM: All results from 54A are pulled from the Secretary of State's site

11/5, after 2:00AM: 100% of precincts report resulting in Paul trailing by 13 votes.

11/8, approximately 2:30PM: Scott County announces a "ballot distribution error" and "ballot scanning malfunction" that triggered an abrupt re-scan of more than 20,000 ballots scheduled to begin at 4:00PM the same day. Despite stating that "Scott County estimates that the re-scanning process will be completed within two hours," the re-scan stretched late into the evening.

11/9, after midnight: Results are posted to the Secretary of State's page showing a net 1 vote gain for DFL Rep. Brad Tabke.

These vote total changes shouldn't be trusted under any circumstances. Sue Ek went from leading by 4 votes to trailing by 191 votes. That's a swing of 195 votes. The only time I've seen that happen before this year was during the 2008 statewide recount for the Coleman=Franken race. Coleman went to bed Election Night leading by 300+ votes. It didn't take long before Franken was ahead. The recount immediately stopped the minute Franken took the lead.

Aaron Paul led by 360 votes with all of the votes counted. Then the results for 54A "are pulled from the Secretary of State's website." Just 3+ hours later, at 2:00 am on 11/6, DFL Rep. Brad Tabke led by 13 votes. That's a swing of 373 votes. Other than the sham Coleman-Franken recount, I've never heard of a swing of 100+ votes in a single night.

UPDATE: How could I forget this? In 2020, Jerry Relph, my state senator at the time, went to bed leading by more than 1,000 votes. According to the Secretary of State's website, though, Aric Putnam defeated Relph by 316 votes.

Sue Ek has announced that she wants a recount:

Minnesota's electoral system once was airtight. It hasn't been airtight since 2006. Minnesota needs a major overhaul of its election laws and recount laws and procedures. First, we need a system that's based solely on paper ballots. Next, we need those ballots to have special identifying marks for each legislative district. That way, it'll be possible to track which ballots were state-issued and which ballots are counterfeits. Third, we need a system where paper ballots from the various precincts come in bags that show they've been kept in custody of a single person. That way, people can be held accountable for each voting location's ballots. Each of these bags should have a lot number, the person's signature identifying them as the person-in-charge of that voting site's ballots.

Fourth, any ballots that don't have the city/ward/precinct markings on them shouldn't be counted.

UPDATE: This article offers a different explanation for the Wolgamott-Ek race:

State Rep. Dan Wolgamott, DFL-St. Cloud, declared his victory in the Minnesota House of Representatives District 14B race against Republican Sue Ek. This comes after the preliminary results were updated showing the incumbent leading by 191 votes. The race was initially expected to undergo a recount, as it was initially Ek winning by four votes, then followed by Wolgamott winning by 28 votes.

But, with Wolgamott leading Thursday by 191 votes, or 0.96%, the margin is above the 0.5% threshold for a state-funded recount, meaning Ek would have to cover the cost for a requested recount.

That's suspicious-sounding on steroids. How do you miss 163 absentee ballots through the regular count and another count? People responsible for that mishandling should be immediately terminated. Period.

Sherburne County Administrator Bruce Messelt told the St. Cloud Times that election results were updated Thursday as a count of absentee ballots was uploaded.

"There were absentee ballots that were received and processed here locally but their results did not get properly uploaded," Messelt said.

If Messelt isn't terminated for this haphazard handling of absentee ballots, then it'll be apparent that they don't believe in accountability. Further, I don't buy the absentee ballot schtick. I voted early by mail this year. While the single envelope package wasn't imposing by itself, 163 of them would be quite noticeable. If Messelt can't provide proof of chain of custody for those absentee ballots, they shouldn't be counted. Period. This sounds like a ton of DFL hijinks. How do you miss a stack of absentee ballots that 4"-6" tall? You'd have to be sleepwalking.