Breaking: Sample ballot scandal in Minnesota?
By Easton Martin | August 5, 2026
Election integrity expert Rick Weible and attorney Matt Benda say they have uncovered a security vulnerability across 15 Minnesota counties ahead of the upcoming August 11 primary election. According to an interview on LindellTV, the identified counties uploaded sample ballots to public online portals without removing essential tabulator timing marks.
Weible and Benda say that leaving tabulator timing marks intact on publicly accessible PDF files allows anyone to download and print the documents. They say these printed sample ballots could potentially be processed by voting tabulators as legitimate ballots.
The investigators stated that publishing sample ballots in this format violates Minnesota election law. This issue represents a repeat of the same vulnerability they previously flagged in 2024.
The investigation names 15 specific counties where the unwatermarked sample ballots were found: Becker, Beltrami, Big Stone, Cass, Dodge, Grant, Mower, Otter Tail, Pope, Renville, Roseau, Steele, Traverse, and Waseca.
The report points to Anoka County as an example of proper procedure. Anoka County placed a clear SAMPLE watermark across its online ballot documents while completely removing all tabulator timing marks.
With the primary election approaching on August 11, the investigators are urging Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon to intervene. They say the Secretary’s office needs to pull the affected digital files immediately from public servers to protect the security of the election.
