KBJR 6 in Duluth reports in Rep. Sandstede wins District Minnesota House District 6A seat following recount:
Following a recount of more than 20,000 ballots, Representative Julie Sandstede (DFL-Hibbing) appears to have retained her seat at the legislature, she said in a statement Wednesday.
40 votes separated Sandstede and her Republican challenger Rob Farnsworth following the election, which triggered the state-funded recount.
“This election and recount is a testament to the safety and security of our elections system. Voters turned out in massive numbers this year and more than anything else, it is important for voters’ voices to be heard and their votes to be counted – and the recount showed that’s exactly what happened," Rep. Sandstede said in a statement.
The St. Louis County Auditor's Office earlier found and corrected vote tally errors that impacted unofficial results from precincts in Toivola and Hibbing.
Sandstede received 10,781 votes and Farnsworth received 10,741 votes.
Two years ago, Sandstede beat Farnsworth with more than 60% of the vote.
On Facebook, Rob Farnsworth reported the results of the hand-count of the ballots and congratulated Sandstede:
Hello again friends. The recount is now complete and the results have me behind by 33 votes. I would like to thank everyone who supported us. I don’t take lightly your investment of time and money into my campaign. I would also like to wish my opponent the very best. To paraphrase George H.W. Bush, her success is all of our success. Thank you and God bless.
More on the error from the Duluth News Forum on November 5 in Errors fixed in Minnesota House 6A election results; Sandstede 50 votes ahead of Farnsworth:
In a news release late Thursday night, the St. Louis County Auditor's Office said it found the errors at two of the county's precincts.
"A clerical error resulted in the votes cast on election day in Toivola being recorded incorrectly," the county said. "Additionally, an issue with the process of uploading the results from one polling location in Hibbing led to duplicate counts."
That led to errors in the unofficial results reported to the Minnesota Secretary of State website. The county will continue to review results ahead of the canvassing board's certification of election results on Nov. 13, the county said.
Since early Wednesday, Farnsworth had been leading incumbent Sandstede, DFL-Hibbing, by just 47 votes — 10,923 to 10,876 votes. But on Thursday, the number of total votes fell for both candidates and showed Sandstede ahead.
After several changes to the vote totals, Sandstede ended with 10,764 votes and Farnsworth with 10,714 votes, which are the "corrected and updated" results, the county said.
The difference remains within the .5% margin that, if requested, would trigger a publicly funded recount.
"Anytime there is an error it is unfortunate," St. Louis County Auditor Nancy Nilsen said in the release. "But this is exactly why we have an audit system in place, to ensure the accuracy of results and integrity of the system, and why we say vote totals are not official until certified." . . .
That was close.
Photo: Rob Farnsworth and Julie Sandstede. Via Duluth News Tribune.
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