Ramsey County prints ballots with recently deceased candidate's name
Ramsey County elections officials are asking the state Supreme Court to step in after the name of a recently deceased Republican candidate was printed on ballots for a St. Paul state legislative race.
After the death of GOP candidate Beverly Peterson, Minnesota Republicans nominated Scott Hesselgrave to run in House District 67A on St. Paul's east side.
Ramsey County elections officials said the Secretary of State's Office notified them of the change on Aug. 29, but the county says because of a clerical error, Peterson's name was sent to the printer.
Staff discovered the problem on Friday, the first day of early voting.
Under state law, only the Minnesota Supreme Court has the authority to fix such mistakes, and officials filed a petition asking the justices to sort it out.
Until there's a resolution, the county must continue to issue the erroneous ballots.
Hesselgrave is facing DFLer Liz Lee in the race. Lee beat DFL incumbent John Thompson in the August primary.
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