Multiple sleeves encase absentee ballots in Minnesota. An inner envelope, known as a secrecy sleeve, contains the ballot but no identifying information about the voter to protect their privacy. That goes inside another envelope, known as a signature sleeve, that the voter signs. And that all gets placed inside the envelope use for mailing.

In the 54A race, an absentee ballot board followed the standard procedure for accepting or rejecting absentee ballots, the summary states. Members first examined the signature sleeves and recorded them into a statewide registration system. They then divided those envelopes by precinct before opening the signature and secrecy sleeves, removing the ballots and preparing them for tabulation.

As part of the investigation, county staff asked the city for the secrecy envelopes tied to the 20 missing ballots. That’s when staff learned those liners had been thrown out, prompting the county to track trash and recycling. The trash sat at a Burnsville landfill, according to the summary. The recycling, located at a Dem-Con facility, had already been sent for shredding.

That led to the conclusion outlined in the preliminary summary: the ballots were likely thrown out while they remained in the secrecy envelopes before being tabulated.

“This unfortunate situation resulted in a level of confusion that should not have occurred,” Hocevar said in a statement, adding that the investigation remains ongoing. He said in the summary that the ballots will most likely not be recovered, adding that even if they’re found, “it is unlikely that their chain of custody can be proven to assure they have not been tampered with.”

Demuth, the Republican representative, previously called on called on Scott County to “prove chain of custody if the ballots are located and guarantee that there was not malicious activity” that led to the ballots “being removed or destroyed.”

A man was struck and killed along a rural Dakota County as he attempted to move the carcass of a deer he just hit from the roadway.

The man, 69, from Hastings, has stuck the deer about 6:35 a.m. Wednesday, as he was driving west on County Road 46 near General Sieben Drive in Marshan Township, the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office said.

Another driver who stopped at the scene to help saw an eastbound driver strike the man in the traffic lanes, a news release from Sheriff Joe Leko said.

Deputies arrived quickly and attempted life saving measures, but were unsuccessful, Leko said.

Authorities have not released the man’s name.

The driver who hit the victim was uninjured and has been cooperative with the ongoing investigation, Leko said.

A woman is dead following a two-vehicle collision early Wednesday in Otter Tail County in northwestern Minnesota, the State Patrol said.

The woman, 55, of Sebeka, Minn., was headed north on Haberhan Road when she collided with a pickup truck headed east on Hwy. 10 about 2:40 a.m., the patrol said.

Her name has not been released.

Two adults and a teenager from Miles City, Mont., in the pickup truck were not injured, said patrol spokesman Lt. Michael Lee.

Road conditions were dry at the time of the crash, which happened in Pine Lake Township between Perham and New York Mills.

No other information has been released.