Technical issues force some Dakota County towns to physically transport election results

Election results in Dakota County were held up Tuesday night due to computer issues, county officials said in a news release.

According to Dakota County Manager Matt Smith, some towns and townships “experienced modem transmission issues,” forcing election workers to physically deliver memory cards containing the election results.

Those memory cards are being taken either to local city halls or the Dakota County Elections Department at the county building in Hastings, Smith said.

The modems were tested before the election, according to the county.

Results in Dakota County are being closely watched around the country as it’s the most populous county in the hotly contested 2nd Congressional District. Republican candidate Tyler Kistner is running to unseat Democratic incumbent Rep. Angie Craig in the race.

Complete 2nd Congressional District race coverage

For most of the night, no votes had been reported in Dakota County. That jumped to 84% of precincts as of 11:38 p.m., according to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s website.