Rep. Brad Tabke, DFL-Shakopee, leads Republican Aaron Paul by 15 votes after a recount was conducted in the race for District 54A of the Minnesota House of Representatives. Prior to the Thursday recount, Tabke led by 14 votes in the race for the Scott County seat.
“It’s important to remember that these results are unofficial until the canvassing board meets and certifies the results,” said Julie Hanson, the Scott County elections manager.
The county’s canvassing board is scheduled to meet on Monday, Nov. 25 regarding certification of the election. However, Speaker-designate Lisa Demuth, the leader of the House Republicans, says questions still remain.
“While the recount has concluded, serious questions still remain about the 21 ballots that remain unaccounted for,” said Demuth. “With the recount results showing a final margin smaller than the number of potentially missing ballots, it is impossible to certify the election unless or until Scott County can determine what happened, prove chain of custody if the ballots are located, and guarantee that there was no malicious activity that led to 20 ballots being removed or destroyed.”
“House Republicans will pursue every legal option available, including a potential election contest, to ensure the integrity of the results in District 54A,” added Demuth.
The day before the recount, Scott County issued a statement which said the county elections manager “identified a discrepancy in the count of ballots, in which 21 more absentee records than ballots were counted in the City of Shakopee. A comprehensive investigation into this situation was initiated as soon as it was identified, which is ongoing.”
That discrepancy was discovered by the county on Nov. 7.
Friday morning, a Scott County spokesperson told Alpha News that the “investigation remains ongoing.” The spokesperson also said “Shakopee Precinct 12A had a one ballot discrepancy; Shakopee P10 had had 20. All of these are within House legislative district 54A.”
Addressing questions about the situation on Friday afternoon, the spokesperson told Alpha News, “When the investigation has concluded, any result will be immediately reported via multiple channels.”
“When there are 21 missing ballots and one candidate is ahead by a fraction of that, the only answer is that there must be a new election,” Jim Schultz, the president of the Minnesota Private Business Council and the 2022 GOP nominee for Minnesota attorney general, said in a statement after the recount.
The chair of the Scott County GOP also sent out an email following the conclusion of the recount, in which he said, “I have been informed that the [House Republican Campaign Committee] attorney will be filing with the courts to stop the certification of the election and ask for a new election. We will know more about this on Monday and will pass along what we know then.”
Scott County has said “the canvassing board is charged with auditing and verifying the ballots that are in their possession only.” Furthermore, county officials have said that the canvassing board has “limited authority in this situation” and that the court system is the proper venue to address “any remaining concerns.”
Furthermore, the county elections manager has stated that the Scott County Board of Commissioners has no authority to call a new election.
If Tabke were to occupy the seat, the House would be tied: 67 DFLers and 67 Republicans. If Paul were to occupy the seat, the Republicans would have a 68-66 majority. As such, the outcome of this matter will have major ramifications for Minnesota’s state government.
Election night reporting drama
The race in House District 54A was one of the closest legislative races and attracted significant attention. On election night, controversy arose after the Minnesota Secretary of State’s website initially reported, and then removed, numbers which showed Paul beating Tabke with 100% of precincts reporting.
UPDATE: Democrat Brad Tabke now leads Republican Aaron Paul by 13 votes, race will go to a recount
Here's what we know about the Minnesota House District 54A last night:
1. The Secretary of State's website showed Tabke losing to Paul by 360 votes with 100% of precincts… pic.twitter.com/xLkyhT01ih
— Alpha News (@AlphaNewsMN) November 6, 2024
The website was later updated to show both candidates with higher vote totals than before, and Tabke narrowly beating Paul. In a published timeline describing the events of election night, Scott County says the confusion was caused when partial results were sent to the Secretary of State and reported as complete results.
“It’s critical to clarify that there was a minor error in the timing of the reporting – an unfortunate situation that several other counties experienced as well – that appeared to indicate that the preliminary results were the final results,” said Scott County Administrator Lezlie Vermillion in a Nov. 20 statement which discussed the reporting error and other matters related to the election in House District 54A.
Luke Sprinkel
Luke Sprinkel previously worked as a Legislative Assistant at the Minnesota House of Representatives. He grew up as a Missionary Kid (MK) living in England, Thailand, Tanzania, and the Middle East. Luke graduated from Regent University in 2018.
