When an Edina resident arrived to cast his absentee ballot at the city’s government center on Oct. 18, he was stunned by what he saw.
A courier had left the back of a van wide open, exposing ballot transfer cases full of absentee ballots.
For the resident, a seasoned election judge, the scene immediately raised red flags.
“I recognized those ballot transfer boxes right away,” he said.
Without missing a beat, he pulled out his phone, snapping a photo of the half-dozen boxes—most sealed with red and blue zip ties—and it was later posted on social media. The image quickly gained attention, fueling concerns about the security of absentee ballots.
Concerns raised over ballot security
As it turns out, Edina City Hall was just one of many stops for the courier that day.
Alpha News pressed Hennepin County Elections Director Ginny Gelms about the breakdown in protocol during a media availability Monday.
“This was a breach in protocol and it has been dealt with,” stated Gelms. “They [the courier company] assured us that they have terminated the driver in question and are reiterating and retraining all of their drivers on all of the security protocols that we expect of our couriers.”
Gelms acknowledged that although Hennepin County did not obtain surveillance footage from all of the courier’s stops that day, she was certain that the ballots remained uncompromised.
“Despite the mishap, every single ballot was accounted for. None were tampered with. We received every ballot we were supposed to, and none that we weren’t,” stated Gelms.
But for the man who snapped the photo, this wasn’t comforting.
“I’m 99% sure he did the same thing at every one of his stops. Why wouldn’t he? This kind of oversight raises doubts about the security of the entire ballot transfer process,” he said.
Incident raises more questions
The situation has also raised a question about the absence of election judges from both parties during the transportation of ballots.
Gelms clarified that under state election law, the presence of judges is only required during Election Day ballot transport—not before.
“The rules around election judges transporting ballots in party-balanced teams apply to Election Day activities and how ballots are moved from Election Day polling places back to city halls on election night … There is not a requirement that absentee ballots be transferred by election judges back to the county,” explained Gelms.
This information was concerning for Rep. Walter Hudson, R-Albertville. “I see. So, there is apparently no continuity in the security process for ballots submitted early and ballots cast day of. Good to know, and totally unacceptable,” he wrote on social media.
Gelms estimated that “probably several thousand ballots” were in the van at the time of the incident.
Do these ballots look secure to you? Photo outside Edina City Hall. @MNSteveSimon @GOPMNCD3 @MNCD5GOP @gop @EdinaMN @EdinaPatch @edinacityman @EdinaPolice @EdinaMag @lizcollin @AlphaNewsMN @Sd46G @SD50DFL @billglahn pic.twitter.com/SF03NMdpXL
— SD50MNGOP (@SD50MNGOP) October 18, 2024
“When something like this happens, we hate it. It’s not acceptable, and it’s not up to our standards,” she stated.
Others have raised questions about the fact that, according to the photo, one ballot box had no visible zip tie at all, while others were sealed with red and blue ties—the colors of the Republican and Democratic parties.
Gelms dismissed any notion that the color choice reflected political affiliations, calling it purely coincidental.
“Different cities within Hennepin County use different seals. It’s really up to individual cities within the county as to what seals they choose to use.”
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon also released a statement on the incident, describing it as “totally unacceptable.”
“This is a teachable moment for everyone involved in administering our elections. To that end, our office has lent support to the county in their response to this incident and will continue to be available to support them and all other localities conducting elections,” he said. “We have issued a bulletin to all localities to remind them again of chain of custody requirements and practices to ensure this incident is not repeated.”
Jenna Gloeb
Jenna Gloeb is an Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist, media producer, public speaker, and screenwriter. Most recently, she worked as a reporter and on-air host for CCX Media. Jenna is a Minnesota native and resides in the Twin Cities with her husband, son, daughter, and two dogs.
