Olmsted County officials work on correcting voting information
By Nicole Garrison
*garrison@postbulletin.com
Olmsted County officials and staff will be working through the weekend to correct wrong voting information sent to residents earlier in the week.
The corrections are in regard to a number of voter cards marked with the wrong election district and sent to some residents.
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County officials said they will not know when voters will receive correct information until Monday.
"Staff will be working through the weekend to get the information corrected and cards re-sent prior to the primary on Sept. 10," Richard Devlin, county administrator, said in a letter to the Post-Bulletin.
In the meantime, voters can go to the Minnesota Secretary of State Web site at www.sos.state.mn.us for the correct information.
"If you put your address into our precinct finder, you can find your correct precinct," said Kent Kaiser, communications director for the Minnesota secretary of state. "It's been correct all along."
Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer announced that the error was made at the county level after a teleconference with county officials Wednesday.
She said county officials put voters in the wrong election district when entering data into the state's central computer system.
But, Devlin said, it is too soon to determine who is at fault.
"It is true that many voters within the city of Rochester have received precinct cards with incorrect information," Devlin said in his letter dated Friday. "As much as the secretary of state would like this to be our fault, we never agreed that it was, and she can't provide any concrete evidence that it was."
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Correct information can also be accessed at www.olmstedcounty.com. The county Web site links to the precinct finder.
If you have questions about your polling place, call Olmsted County at 287-2118 or 287-1940.
