Faribault County, Minnesota, is addressing an election blunder that resulted in ballots incorrectly labeling state Rep. Peggy Bennett, a Republican, as a Democrat. Her Democratic opponent, Joe Staloch, was listed as the Republican candidate. This mistake impacted 17 voters in the District 23A race after early voting began on September 20.
Bennett was informed of the error by a voter who had mistakenly voted for Staloch, thinking he was the Republican candidate. Bennett assured her supporters that she remains a Republican and expressed disappointment that the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office had not caught the error before the ballots were printed.
While the Secretary of State’s office denied responsibility, stating that counties are responsible for printing their ballots, Faribault County is now working to correct the issue. The county plans to pursue legal action to ensure voters who received the incorrect ballots have their votes counted accurately.
Bennett expressed concern that such errors damage public trust in election integrity. She also defended local election officials, praising their swift efforts to address the problem, while highlighting the importance of ensuring mistakes like this don’t happen in the future.
With election integrity already a contentious issue in Minnesota, particularly with the recent automatic voter registration problems, the mislabeled ballots add another layer of concern to the state’s voting process.
