Residents urge Sherburne County to appoint sergeant at arms after alleged 2024 voting irregularities

Speakers at the open forum said evidence from a sheriff’s investigative report, staff interviews and surveillance video showed irregularities during the 2024 early voting period and urged the Sherburne County Board to appoint a sergeant at arms for early voting and election day to protect staff and ballot integrity.

Brenda Hanson told commissioners that county administrator comments in local media characterized the group's concerns as campaign-related and that the evidence they compiled showed disorder, including "double voting, large coordinated groups of voters" and repeated handling of applications by the same individuals. Hanson said the group requested the board ‘‘appoint a sergeant of arms for the full early voting period in election day’’ and asked the board to budget for the role in the auditor’s office.

Terry Dickinson echoed the allegation of a ‘‘multi-county voting ring’’ and asked for the same measure, adding that some attendees could not access the live feed and asked for additional accommodation to hear public testimony. The board acknowledged the requests and offered to continue discussion at subsequent meetings and the planned evening open house; no formal directive or vote on the sergeant-at-arms proposal was recorded in the meeting minutes.

The county administrator and other officials were mentioned by name in public comments; no official response from the auditor treasurer or a law-enforcement conclusion was included in the recorded meeting discussion.