Ballots Featuring Dead Republican Will Continue To Be Mailed Out

RAMSEY COUNTY, MN — Ramsey County election officials have so far mailed out more than 1,000 ballots that they say mistakenly list a Republican candidate who died in August.

However, despite catching the error on Sept. 23, Ramsey County officials say they "must continue to issue the erroneous ballots to absentee voters by mail and in person until a resolution is determined."

The county is waiting on the Minnesota Supreme Court to decide how best to fix the issue. Under state law, the high court has the sole authority to resolve ballot errors.

The ballots erroneously list Beverly Peterson, who was running for House District 67A before her death.

On Aug. 29, the Republican Party was allowed to replace her with Scott Hesselgrave, but the change wasn't made on the ballots.

County officials say the issue was identified on Sept. 23, the first day of absentee voting.

"Ramsey County sincerely regrets this error and apologizes to both the voters of District 67A and the candidates impacted by this oversight," the county said in a news release.

"Upon learning of this error, we immediately began an internal audit to identify where the error occurred and today formally began the legal process to resolve the issue. Ramsey County elections staff is preparing to implement a resolution as soon as one is identified by the court and is taking steps to update internal procedures to ensure an error does not happen again. It’s imperative that every vote count."

Voters impacted by the error are asked to visit the county elections website for future updates on the issue.

Following the news, state Republicans accused Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon and Ramsey County of disenfranchising voters.

Simon is running for reelection against Republican challenger Kim Crockett this fall.