Minnesota GOP caucus data errors stir fraud claims and calls for audits

Issues with data reported from this month's Republican precinct caucuses have some GOP candidates for governor crying foul — and even levying election fraud accusations against each other.

Minnesota Republican Party Chair David Hann said in a statement last week some local party units sent caucus data to the state party that included names of people who attended past caucuses but were not present for this year's caucuses on Feb. 1. He asserted that the errors "were not intentional, malicious, or related to any campaign" and that the data were being corrected.

"The period from the caucus events to the first conventions is short. It is further complicated by the fact that all the BPOU [basic political operating unit] boundaries and delegate allocations will be affected by redistricting," Hann said.

Also at issue were discrepancies in data reported by the Republican Party in Morrison County, where Paul Gazelka's campaign is headquartered, prompting allegations of wrongdoing by one of Gazelka's rivals.

Multiple gubernatorial candidates called for a pause in the party's local convention process because of the probblems and two demanded a "full forensic audit" of the process. Kendall Qualls drew a parallel with his party's focus on 2020 election audits and stricter voting legislation.

"How else can we as a party claim to stand up for election integrity when there are issues that we ourselves are facing behind closed doors?" Qualls said.

Candidates Neil Shah and Mike Murphy asked for a "full forensic audit" of GOP caucus data, using the occasion to underscore their pitches as being outsider candidates.

Shah pointed to Morrison County, whose GOP party chair also works for Gazelka's campaign for governor. He cited "particularly egregious discrepancies" in the county's precinct caucus data and alleged that delegates were "deliberately omitted" from a list sent to the state party while others who were not present were added.

"Some delegate lists for these conventions are still being compiled, and evidence of widespread errors and manipulation renders the possibility of free and fair conventions to be very unlikely unless a full forensic audit takes place," Shah said.

Gazelka's campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

All of the top Republican candidates for governor have pledged to abide by the party's endorsement, but the outcry over caucus data errors fueled speculation that some candidates could now decide to run in the August primary.

Morrison County GOP Chair Mandy Heffron said last week that the party planned to postpone its convention "to a later date to work through all of this." Other county conventions were scheduled to start Friday.

Heffron said that not all names on the list as delegates were counted because of a lack of information provided to the party on caucus night. She said five names were added to the delegate lists because those people contacted the chair before the caucus to say that they wanted to be a delegate.

Heffron added that "no one was intentionally disenfranchised."