Two of the closest races for the Minnesota House are headed for recounts.
Both have been the subject of public scrutiny because of issues with reporting returns on election night. In both races, the Minnesota Secretary of State’s website showed the Republican candidates beating their Democratic opponents with 100% of precincts reporting.
But now, in the House District 14B race, incumbent DFLer Dan Wolgamott leads GOP challenger Sue Ek by 191 votes, and in the District 54A race, Democratic Rep. Brad Tabke is beating Republican Aaron Paul by 14 votes. The results displayed on the Secretary of State’s website are unofficial until the post-election review process and canvassing board meetings are complete.
Sherburne County, which includes portions of House District 14B, said it plans to conduct a hand recount at its own expense, saying in a press release that “some ballot totals failed to upload to the Secretary of State’s website on election night.”
Minnesota's Sherburne County will do a hand recount of some votes at its expense after concerns raised about different vote totals sent to Sec of State election night. This will likely include Leg District 14b that now falls outside free recount margin.
Statement here. pic.twitter.com/VIwdl1eIgX— Peter Callaghan (@CallaghanPeter) November 10, 2024
“The upload failure from the County to the Secretary of State’s Election Reporting System (ERS) was due to an improperly cleared or partially damaged memory card that did not fully collect and transmit results from some of the processed mail-in ballots,” the statement continued.
“This resulted in inaccurate unofficial election results for Sherburne County being displayed for the public on the Secretary of State’s Election Night Reporting website.”
The county also said the memory card errantly transmitted “test” data “designed to test the reporting system prior to the election.”
“The result was inflated vote totals that later decreased once the error was discovered and corrected.”
Meanwhile, Scott County, which includes all of House District 54A, said in a press release Wednesday that election officials “identified 21 absentee records that do not have corresponding physical ballots” during a routine audit.
“Of these, 20 records were issued in Shakopee Precinct 10 and one was issued in Shakopee Precinct 12A. The rescan of ballots that was conducted on Friday, November 8, did not uncover these 21 ballots. The County has been working closely with the City of Shakopee to audit the records and will continue our efforts to ensure completeness and accuracy of the election results,” the county said.
Scott County elections administrator Julie Hanson told Alpha News that the county “has not determined if the ballots cannot be located or if the record was added and the person did not vote their ballot.”
“[A voter] could be added as an absentee voter and not actually vote their ballot. We do see occasions where a voter changes their mind or leaves without voting,” she said.
She told Fox 9 that in precinct 10, the county had “329 people check in to absentee vote,” but they “received 309 ballots back.”
The Tabke-Paul race falls within the margin of an automatic hand recount, which will take place on Thursday, Nov. 21, starting at 8:30 a.m. As it stands, the Minnesota House is tied 67-67.
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
