Some Dakota County election outcomes that had appeared to be final Tuesday night flipped by Wednesday morning as county election officials continued to upload absentee ballot votes onto the Minnesota Secretary of State's elections website.
The result: Some candidates believed they had won or lost Tuesday, only to be surprised when they found those numbers changed a few hours later.
Returns on Tuesday night showed Dakota County Commissioner Chris Gerlach beating challenger Mary Hamann-Roland by 9 percentage points. Hamann-Roland, who is mayor of Apple Valley, said she went to bed about 1:30 a.m. feeling the totals didn't seem to reflect heavy turnout.
"I thought to myself, these numbers just don't look right," said Hamann-Roland. She told herself that the results "were in God's hands."
She awoke at 5 a.m. to a text message from a friend congratulating her on winning. When she brought up the website, she said the totals finally looked realistic given the number of expected voters — and they showed she had won by 15 percentage points. She learned that absentee ballots had made the difference, she said.
"I have such a grateful heart," she said.
Inver Grove Heights City Council Member Brenda Dietrich, who ran for mayor, also noticed the shifting numbers. "It was just a wild ride last night," she said.
The Secretary of State's website reported just after 9 p.m. Tuesday that with all precincts reporting, Dietrich had defeated fellow Council Member Tom Bartholomew by 91 votes, a result reported by the Star Tribune.
