Like many Minnesotans who live in small cities and townships, the 119 registered voters who reside in Zumbro Falls receive their ballots by mail.
On Tuesday, some of those voters reported their mailed ballots contained a printed error.
The error was simple and unmistakable for those who live in the rural municipality, situated where the Zumbro River meets Highway 63 in Wabasha County: ballots in Zumbro Falls should have featured candidates running for the House District 20B seat in the state legislature. Instead, their ballots featured the neighboring House District 20A race.
Zumbro Falls is one of several Wabasha County communities represented by House District 20B. Officials with Wabasha County told local media they were working with the Minnesota secretary of state to invalidate those ballots and issue new ballots to those who had received the misprints.
Both representatives Pam Altendorf, R-Red Wing, and Steve Jacob, R-Altura, received reports on Tuesday morning of the ballot errors in Zumbro Falls. The secretary of state’s office confirmed in an email Tuesday that it was aware of the error, the legislators said.
Altendorf and Jacob, who represent districts 20A and 20B, respectively, released a joint statement asking the Minnesota secretary of state to resolve the errors with haste.
“We’re seeing yet another instance of an error on the ballot, just weeks after we learned that more than 1,000 voter registrations had to be deactivated and that ineligible voters may have been added to the voter roll,” Altendorf and Jacob said. “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.”
News of the misprinted ballots in Zumbro Falls comes on the heels of reports on Friday that Rep. Peggy Bennett, R-Albert Lea, had been listed as the Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidate on some ballots in Faribault Country for her House District 23A race.
Bennett made it clear on Friday that she believes the fault of the misprinted ballots in her race should not be placed on the shoulders of those who work in the Faribault County auditor’s office.
The secretary of state’s office issued a statement Friday, calling the misprint a “localized ballot error” that’s limited to ballots issued by Faribault County. It said ballots for the House District 23A race issued by Freeborn, Steele and Waseca counties accurately list the candidates’ parties.
“County officials discovered the misprint on September 20 and will be pursuing corrective action through the courts including instructions for voters who already received and returned an incorrect ballot to ensure their vote is counted correctly,” Secretary of State Steve Simon said in a press statement. On social media, Simon struck a more incendiary tone.
“Misinformation Alert: In MN, counties are in charge of proofing their own ballots,” Simon said in a post on X. “Not our office. Fortunately, there are good fixes when mistakes happen. Here’s our statement on a recent local misprint. Best to get the facts before jumping to conclusions.”
Hank Long
Hank Long is a journalism and communications professional whose writing career includes coverage of the Minnesota legislature, city and county governments and the commercial real estate industry. Hank received his undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota, where he studied journalism, and his law degree at the University of St. Thomas. The Minnesota native lives in the Twin Cities with his wife and four children. His dream is to be around when the Vikings win the Super Bowl.
