With early voting underway, local elections officials and the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office are working to address issues with a small number of ballot misprints after reports of errors in two counties.

This week, Wabasha County officials said voters in Zumbro Falls received ballots listing the wrong Minnesota House of Representatives race. Despite the southeastern Minnesota town lying in District 20B, ballots showed the race for House District 20A.

The county is working with the Secretary of State to nullify, or “spoil,” any of the ballots that had the error, and officials are already in the process of petitioning the Minnesota Supreme Court to let the county move forward with reprints. The court could act as soon as Friday, according to Wabasha County Administrator Michael Plante.

As of Thursday, the county had received just four ballots and none have been counted due to the error, Plante said. The county will have plenty of time to reissue ballots for absentee and early voters, and Election Day is on Nov. 5  a little more than five weeks away.

Errors ‘very uncommon’

While there are a few reports of ballot errors each year statewide, Plante said they’re “very uncommon” and the county has safeguards in place to screen for errors.

“I’ve been in Wabasha County for approximately 14 years — not the entire time as a county administrator — this is the first time I can recall a balloting issue that’s occurred,” he said.

He later added: “Just being blunt and honest — this was human error and it was missed. It should have been caught at the county level.”

Rep. Pam Altendorf, R-Redwing, who is running in 20A against Democrat Heather Arndt, and Rep. Steve Jacob, R-Altura, who is running against Democrat Michael Hutchinson in 20B, pressed officials Tuesday to take swift action.

“These errors are unacceptable and need to be quickly resolved by the Secretary of State and the County to ensure voters in Zumbro Falls aren’t disenfranchised,” the Republicans said in a joint statement.

More than 5,000 ballot variations

Minnesota has more than 5,000 ballot variations, sometimes with dozens of contests. Each of Minnesota’s 87 counties is required to prepare their own ballots, and the Secretary of State’s office provides the lists of certified candidates. Counties are responsible for printing and proofing ballots.

“Occasionally, there are mistakes made when preparing ballots that are not detected during proofing,” the Secretary of State’s office said. “Every time an error is discovered, corrective actions are taken through the courts. Notice will be provided to impacted voters if the court determines it to be necessary.”

Zumbro Falls is not the only area that has seen inaccurate ballots. The first misprint came to light last Friday, the first day of early voting in Faribault County, where incumbent Rep. Peggy Bennett, a Republican from Albert Lea, was incorrectly listed as a Democrat.

“In every election, despite the best efforts of our hard-working county election officials, mistakes happen,” the Secretary of State’s office said.

Bennett’s District, 23A, covers several counties, and only 17 ballots in Faribault County were affected, according to the Secretary of State. Faribault County said it filed a petition with the Minnesota Supreme Court to correct the issue.

“Our top priority is safeguarding the integrity of the electoral process, and we are taking swift corrective action,” county officials said in a statement.

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