Clerical error for House District 67A resolved
At Ramsey County’s request, the Minnesota Supreme Court issued a ruling on Oct. 3 to resolve the clerical error on absentee ballots for the Minnesota House of Representatives District 67A election. Following the court order, Ramsey County Elections will begin reprinting absentee ballots and notifying voters who have already requested or cast a ballot about their options.
Due to a clerical error, Ramsey County issued absentee ballots incorrectly listing a deceased candidate as the Republican Party candidate for Minnesota House of Representatives District 67A. The issue involves all ballots for the 11 precincts in Ramsey County located in District 67A. The issue was identified after absentee voting began. Ballots erroneously list Beverly Peterson as the Republican Party candidate for House District 67A instead of Scott Hesselgrave.
To correct this issue, Ramsey County will provide new, corrected ballots in affected precincts. In Minnesota, any voter who casts an absentee ballot can replace their ballot with a new one up until one week before Election Day.
All ballots for absentee and in-person voting issued after Oct. 3 will list the correct candidates. Before the corrected ballots began being issued, 1,198 absentee ballots with the error were sent to voters.
Here are the options for voters who have received an incorrect ballot:
If you haven’t requested an absentee ballot yet:
The replacement ballots available after Oct. 3 will correctly list the eligible Republican Party candidate for House District 67A. You can request an absentee ballot, and your vote will not be impacted by this error.
If you received an incorrect ballot, but haven’t voted yet:
Please discard the incorrect ballot, and you will automatically be sent a replacement. The replacement ballot will list the correct Republican Party candidate for House District 67A, Scott Hesselgrave.
If you’ve already returned the incorrect ballot:
Voters who have received the incorrect ballot and already voted have several options to ensure their vote is counted and accurate.
- Option 1: You may choose to spoil your original ballot by calling the Ramsey County Elections Office at 651-266-2171 and informing elections staff you would like a replacement ballot. A replacement ballot with the correct names for the candidates for District 67A, as well as all other offices on the ballot, will then be issued to you. The original ballot will not be counted. You will then be able to re-vote for all of the offices on the ballot with the replacement ballot. The replacement ballot will be counted.
- Option 2: If you choose not to spoil your ballot and you voted for the deceased candidate, then your vote for District 67A will not count because the candidate is not eligible for office. Your choice for any other offices on your original ballot will be copied onto a replacement ballot and will be counted. In such a circumstance, all of your original votes will be counted except for the vote for District 67A.
- Option 3: If you choose not to spoil your ballot and you voted for someone other than the deceased candidate, then your vote for District 67A will count because the original vote is for a candidate who is still eligible to hold office. In such a circumstance, all of your selections for each office on the ballot, including District 67A, will be copied onto a replacement ballot and will be counted.
Information for voters in multiple languages will be available in the coming days on the Ramsey County website at ramseycounty.us/67A or by calling 651-266-2171.
Statement from Ramsey County
“Ramsey County sincerely regrets this error and apologizes to both the voters of District 67A and the candidates impacted by this oversight. We are grateful to the Minnesota Supreme Court for making a swift ruling on this issue, and we are in the process of implementing the resolution immediately. It is critical that every vote counts.”