Election worker fired after man finds boxes of unsecured ballots in parking lot: 'Totally unacceptable'

Election officials in Minnesota fired a ballot courier last week after Republicans spotted unsecured ballots in the back of a van.

While walking through the parking lot of the Edina City Hall on Oct. 18, a man spotted a Hennepin County courier vehicle with the rear door ajar. Inside the back of the van were approximately a dozen boxes of unsecured ballots.

'This is exactly what can't happen.'

Surveillance video shows the unsecured ballots were left exposed in the parking lot for nearly 10 minutes.

The eyewitness who snapped the photograph of the unsecured ballots told KSTP-TV that he is concerned about a fair election, telling the news station, "This is exactly what can't happen."

One day after that witness spotted the ballots, Hennepin County officials released a statement acknowledging a "lapse in protocol" had occurred.

"The protocol for transporting ballots is that they are to be secured at all times and Hennepin County has alerted its courier of this incident," county officials said. "Hennepin County acknowledges that this lapse in protocol occurred, should not have happened, and is unacceptable. Corrective actions have been taken by the county and its courier to prevent any recurrence."

Officials, moreover, fired the election worker who left the ballots unsecured.

Because of the security lapse, Hennepin County officials inspected the unsecured ballots and determined all remain legitimate.

The statement explained:

Hennepin County has determined that all expected ballots have been accounted for and found no evidence of tampering with sealed transfer cases. This is done by comparing the ballots received from the courier with the record in the Statewide Voter Registration System for all absentee ballots accepted by cities. The comparison demonstrated a 100% match. This step is routine in the ballot integrity process, occurring with every transfer.

County staff have also inspected individual ballots and determined that absentee ballot envelopes within the cases were received in sealed condition. This inspection is also a routine election integrity process.

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon (D), meanwhile, said the incident "was totally unacceptable," yet he still chalked it up as a "teachable moment."

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