Dakota County elections officials assessing hourslong delay in voting results

Dakota County officials were assessing Wednesday what caused a delay of a few hours in reporting election results — and said they will work to ensure that city and township elections in February and March go smoothly.

The county's first set of results wasn't posted on the Minnesota Secretary of State's website until just before midnight due to issues with new modems, said Andy Lokken, the county's election department director.

Election staff had to bring memory cards to city halls or the county, and the final results weren't posted online until just before 3 a.m., Lokken said.

"They tested every piece of hardware. and it all worked fine," he said. "So on election night, we were very surprised."

The county also experienced delays in reporting election results in 2016 and 2020.

This was Dakota County's first election cycle using cellular modems, Lokken said, and there was a software update earlier this year. But the "overwhelming majority" of the modems worked fine during the primary election in August, he said.

The cellular modems transmit election data at individual voting centers to the election server after polls close. The modems, which are separate devices, must be plugged into the ballot counters. Lokken said their malfunction did not affect the integrity of the results.

"We're going to figure it out," he said.

Lokken said officials planned to discuss the glitch soon with Dominion Voting Systems, the voting machine vendor, and Verizon, the cellular service provider.

The delayed results were important not just for local races but because Dakota County represented a large number of voters in the Second Congressional District rematch between Democratic Rep. Angie Craig and Republican challenger Tyler Kistner. Kistner led Craig until the county's results came in. At that point, Craig pulled ahead in the race — this year's most competitive congressional contest in Minnesota and one of the most expensive congressional races in the country.

Craig defeated Kistner 51% to 45.7%. Legal Marijuana Now candidate Paula Overby, who died before the election, received 3.3% of the vote.

The Second District spans all of Dakota, Scott and Le Sueur counties, as well as parts of Rice and Washington counties.

In 2020, election results in Dakota County and the Second District race were also delayed due to the number of county absentee ballots that had to be counted. Some election outcomes that had appeared to be final on election night flipped by morning as county election officials continued to upload absentee ballot votes onto the Secretary of State's elections website.

Craig's race wasn't called until two days after the election two years ago.

Results came in "very, very late" in Dakota County in 2016, too, Lokken said, because of incorrectly distributed ballots.

He said county officials will ask how other counties that use Dominion machines, such as Scott, Stearns and Sherburne, avoided the modem problems. Dakota County has a special election in the city of Empire in February and township elections in March.

The Secretary of State's Office, which runs the state's elections system, said Wednesday there were no other known issues with elections equipment in Minnesota or any other delays in results. It said about 95% the state's precincts reported results by 2 a.m. Wednesday, which is typical.

Secretary of State spokeswoman Cassondra Knudson said in a statement that Dakota County followed the prescribed backup plan when election officials encountered the technology issues.

Rosemount Mayor Bill Droste, who won the Dakota County commissioner race in District 4, said questions surrounding the late results were "stressful."

"I had a lot of texts and emails of, 'Hey, what's going on?'" he said.

Brenda Dietrich, an Inver Grove Heights City Council member who was just elected mayor, said she saw her race's results just before midnight. She said she didn't know that some results from other races came in after 3 a.m.

Results won't be final until votes are canvassed in a week, Dietrich said, adding that she feels the need to be cautious.

In 2020, Dietrich was affected by late reporting of absentee ballots. Although initial results showed she had defeated fellow Council Member Tom Bartholomew by 91 votes, the next morning she learned Bartholomew had won.

This time, she said, "I'm pretty confident that I'm victorious, but ... I just don't like to be overzealous."

Staff writer Kelly Smith contributed to this report.