SD-14 BPOU Initiates Post-election Audit

 Matt Benda of the Peterson, Kolker, Haedt & Benda, Ltd. Law Firm issued a press release regarding the SD-14 GOP BPOU. Specifically, the statement announces that the SD-14 GOP BPOU Executive Committee voted to "proceed with an Election Process and Compliance review of the 2024 election in Senate District 14. Senate District 14 covers the Minnesota counties of Stearns, Benton, and Sherburne in the St. Cloud area."

I've chronicled on this blog multiple unexplained oddities about the very close race for House District 14B between challenger Sue Ek and incumbent Dan Wolgamott. In this article represents my first article on the subject of the race. This post digs into why an audit is required to figure out what happened in updating the vote totals after 100% of the precincts had reported their votes. This article raises multiple additional irregularities surrounding the reporting of the story by 2 different Twin Cities media outlets. These irregularities aren't about style. They've raised substantive questions.

Check this statement out:

NEWS RELEASE

November 15, 2024

For more information contact: Matt Benda 507-383-6491

Republican Party of Minnesota Senate District 14 Initiates Post-election Audit St. Cloud, MINNESOTA –

On November 11th, the executive committee of the Senate District 14 Republicans voted to proceed with an Election Process and Compliance review of the 2024 election in Senate District 14. Senate District 14 covers the Minnesota counties of Stearns, Benton, and Sherburne in the St. Cloud area.

According to Helena Halverson, Chair of the SD 14 Republicans, "There are too many questions about what happened in house race 14b between Dan Wolgamott and Sue Ek. We felt that we needed to act to provide parallel support for the scrutiny of the election process in this district."

Senate District 14 Republicans have already submitted a series of data requests to initiate the audit process. Explained Halverson, "There are multiple points of entry for ballots to be received into the custody of election officials. Each point of entry has its own legal, processing, and chain of custody requirements. Likewise, each ballot touches at least one voting machine which converts the ballot to an electronic format and tally. These electronic tallies are then transferred to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office for reporting. We intend to scrutinize as much of this process as possible."

Data requests have already been submitted requesting a full inventory of the voting machines used in each impacted County, as well as the video footage and chain of custody documentation relating to the Stearns County voting drop box at the Stearns County Service Center in Waite Park.

Halverson concluded, "Many of our voters are deeply troubled by the checkered history of voting outcomes in this area. We have initiated this deep dive audit to provide a higher level of transparency relating to our local voting process."

Sherburne County has already said that they'll pay for the recount. That's the right thing for them to do but it isn't the only thing that's required. House GOP Leader Lisa DeMuth's statement said:
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.
Just to review: Sherburne County said that there was a "delayed upload" that involved an "incomplete transfer of data." In both quotes, Sherburne County used the singular conjugation of the word a and an, signifying a single incomplete transfer of data that led to a 191-vote lead for Rep. Wolgamott. This screen shot shows Sue Ek with a 4-vote lead at 11:08 PM on 11/05/24:
Wolgamott with a 28-vote lead at 12:58 am on 11/06/24:
These screen shots were sent by Sue Ek to WCCO's Esme Murphy. Ms. Murphy reported on the close race in a TV news segment last week. When she reported, the final 191-vote lead for Rep. Wolgamott wasn't shown in a screen shot. What's odd is that it said that Wolgamott had a 191-vote lead while getting 50.4% of the vote with 1,005 votes. Now it says that Wolgamott has 10,005 votes.

It's important to remember that Sherburne County said that "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." Going from a 4-vote Ek lead at 11:08PM on 11/05//24 to a 28-vote lead for Wolgamott at "12:58 AM on 11/06/24" to a 191-vote lead later in the week for Wolgamott sounds like multiple transfers of voting data.

Questions:

When did this additional transfer happen? On what day did it happen? There had to be an additional transfer because Wolgamott still had a 28-vote lead at 10:11 on 11/06/24. That's 11b hours and 3 minutes after Sue Ek had a 4-vote lead with 100% of the precincts reporting.

UPDATE: One of the questions just got answered. This video, uploaded by KARE11 News, says that the screen shot with a 191-vote Wolgamott lead was "last updated: 11/08/24 at 5:38 PM":

That's 2+ days after the 28-vote Wolgamott lead was first reported. That's quite a time lag between Ek's 4-vote lead and Wolgamott's 191-vote lead.

Timeline:

11/05/24 at 11:08 PM: Ek with 4 vote lead. 12:58 AM on 11/06//24: Wolgamott with 28-vote lead. 5:38 PM on 11/08/24: Wolgamott with 191-vote lead.

Does this make sense to anyone?

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