Clay County to Hand-Count 27,000 Senate Ballots
Election officials are preparing a manual recount in a closely contested Minnesota Senate race, with the canvass due November 19.
Updated on Nov. 10, 2026 in Elections
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Clay County election officials are preparing to manually recount approximately 27,000 ballots in a closely contested Minnesota Senate race. The recount covers portions of Clay and Becker counties and is expected to begin around Thanksgiving week.
Why it matters
A manual recount of this size can shift the timing of final certification for voters statewide, since the Secretary of State's Office must complete its canvass on November 19. The process also shows how county-level procedures shape the accuracy and pace of results in close Minnesota races.
Approximately 27,000 ballots will be counted entirely by hand across four counting tables with three workers each, in batches of 25. The recount date remains unsettled between November 23 and 24, and the full duration is not yet known.
The players
Clay County Government Center
The county seat facility in Moorhead that houses the election administration offices and the secured room where the ballots are being stored.
Minnesota Secretary of State's Office
The state agency responsible for overseeing elections, certifying results, and completing the statewide canvass in Minnesota.
The details
Election workers will open the sealed transfer cases, separate ballots by candidate selection, and organize them into stacks of 25 for hand counting. The work will take place in a training room at the Clay County Government Center, where the ballots remain secured behind a key-card access room.
Timeline
November 19, 2026: Minnesota Secretary of State's Office completes its statewide canvass.
November 23, 2026: Initially scheduled date for the Clay County recount.
November 24, 2026: Possible recount date per Secretary of State communications.
Political Context
Minnesota's statutory recount threshold for close statewide races requires counties to conduct manual counts when margins fall within a set range, and this Clay County recount follows that framework. Critics of hand-counting argue it introduces more opportunity for human error than machine tabulation, a concern election officials must address through procedure.
Voters in the affected counties may see final certification of the Senate race delayed while the hand recount is completed. The recount is expected to take at least one full day and could extend into a second.
The takeaway
Close races depend on careful county procedures, and a manual recount of this scale shows how much of the final result rests on process as well as ballots counted.
What happens next
The Minnesota Secretary of State's Office completes its statewide canvass on November 19, 2026, and the Clay County recount is expected to follow in Thanksgiving week.
Further reading
For more on how ballot counts are certified, see the Elections section.
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