Minnesota law requires a public hand-count review of paper ballots from randomly selected precincts before the statewide canvass is complete.
Election-night results arrive quickly. Minnesota’s post-election review happens later, when officials go back to the paper ballots voters marked.
After every state general election, every county must conduct a post-election review. Precincts are selected by lot, their ballots are counted by hand in public, and those totals are compared with the results from the voting system.
Start with paper
Minnesota uses paper ballots for all elections. The tabulator counts the ballot, but the paper ballot remains the official record available for recounts and reviews.
That makes another check possible. For the 2026 state general election, the required review covers U.S. Senator, U.S. Representative and Governor. Every county participates, although not every precinct is reviewed. County canvassing boards randomly select a minimum number based on county size, and at least one selected precinct must have had more than 150 votes cast.
Count it again, by hand
The review is public. Officials manually count the paper ballots from each selected precinct, including absentee ballots counted centrally for that precinct, and compare the hand count with the machine result. Election judges assisting with the review are subject to Minnesota’s party-balance requirement.
Karl Landskroener of Hennepin County Elections describes the value of seeing that work firsthand:
“…we encourage people to again go to our post-election review, watch that process, watch how we hand-tabulate these randomly selected precincts after an election and get the same results that we did on election day… There are many steps that someone can actually come and see firsthand and see for their own eyes what we have.”
— Karl Landskroener, Division Manager for Voter Outreach and Engagement, Hennepin County Elections
What if the numbers differ?
Minnesota law sets specific limits for differences between the voting-system total and the hand count. The allowable difference ranges from two votes in precincts with fewer than 1,200 voters to five votes in precincts with 2,000 or more.
If a discrepancy exceeds the legal threshold, the review expands. At least three additional precincts in the same jurisdiction must be reviewed. If those reviews also exceed the standard, the process can expand to all remaining precincts in the county for the affected races. Revised vote totals from a review become part of the official results.
What did the last review find?
After the 2024 general election, 219 precincts were selected for review. According to the League of Women Voters Minnesota’s report, all met the state’s standard for acceptable performance and none triggered an expanded review. The Secretary of State also publishes precinct-level review results so the comparisons can be examined directly.
Under current law, the review begins no earlier than the ninth day after a state general election and must be completed before the State Canvassing Board certifies the statewide results. Election-night numbers are reported totals; certification comes after additional checking.
Minnesota’s process does not ask a voter to trust one machine count. It preserves the paper ballot, selects precincts randomly, counts those ballots again by hand in public and requires more review when a discrepancy crosses a defined threshold.
Want to see the process? The Secretary of State posts post-election review dates and locations for each county.