With DFLer Tabke in the lead, Scott County Canvassing Board to certify House 54A race

Republicans and DFLers will be one step closer to officially sharing power in the Minnesota House after the Scott County Canvassing Board meets Monday to certify the results of a closely watched contest. But the fight for the District 54A seat might not be over after last week’s recount as Republicans raise alarms about several missing absentee ballots.

DFL Rep. Brad Tabke currently holds a 15-vote lead over Republican Aaron Paul following a recount of nearly 22,000 ballots cast in the race, unofficial results show.

If Tabke and Dan Wolgamott, another DFL representative whose race will be recounted Monday, officially hold onto their seats, an era of divided government awaits House members. DFLers and Republicans will each have 67 seats in a rare tie, sharing power for the first time since 1979.

The canvassing board will convene at 2 p.m. Monday at the Scott County Government Center to certify the results and weigh-in on four “challenged” ballots officials singled out during the recount. Those ballots are included in unofficial totals cast for each candidate: 10,980 for Tabke and 10,965 for Paul.

But the certification might not end the protracted race for District 54A, which encompasses the Shakopee area. Candidates have seven days to file an election challenge in the courts after the canvassing board meets. Chief among some Republicans’ concerns is the fact that Scott County officials can’t account for 21 absentee ballots.

Records showed hundreds of people checked in absentee ballots at Shakopee’s 10th Precinct, according to Julie Hanson, Scott County’s property and customer service manager. But 20 ballots remained missing after officials counted them multiple times. Also unaccounted for is an absentee ballot that was checked in at Precinct 12A.

Hanson said the county is working with the city to investigate the situation.

The episode has concerned some Republican leaders. Jim Schultz, the president of the Minnesota Private Business Council, called for a new 54A election in a Nov. 20 statement, describing the absentee ballot discrepancy as “deeply troubling.”

House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth said in a Nov. 21 statement that Republicans in the chamber will pursue all legal options, including a potential election contest, “to ensure the integrity of the results in District 54A.”

The Cold Spring Republican contended it’s “impossible” to certify the election when the margin between Tabke and Paul is smaller than the number of ballots for which officials can’t account. She 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.”

At last week’s recount, Hanson noted the Scott County Board doesn’t have the authority to call for a new electoral contest. She emphasized the audit remains ongoing but declined to give an update on the status of the missing absentee ballots.

The continued interest in this race — tight since election day — speaks to its significance.

Early returns showed Paul, a Bloomington police officer, ahead in several precincts by small margins. Tabke, a former Shakopee mayor who has served two nonconsecutive House terms, maintained advantages in northeast Shakopee and a precinct north of Shakopee High School.

A few days after election night, Scott County officials rescanned some ballots cast in Shakopee following a scanning machine malfunction. The updated, unofficial results increased Tabke’s advantage by one vote, to 14. Paul then requested a recount, with the margin between the two contenders remaining within the threshold set by state law for a taxpayer-funded one.

After Monday’s meeting, the state Canvassing Board, which met Nov. 21, will convene again to certify the 54A race.

The state board will also have to verify the results of another House race headed to a recount: the contest between Wolgamott and Republican Sue Ek for the St. Cloud-area 14B seat.

Wolgamott currently leads Ek by 191 votes, according to the unofficial totals posted to the secretary of state’s website. That’s outside the threshold for an automatic recount. But Sherburne County opted to pay for a hand recount of the four Sherburne County precincts within District 14B in an effort to quash rumors of misconduct.

For a short time on election night, the website showed Ek leading by four votes; the next morning, it showed Wolgamott leading by 28 votes.

The totals were updated on Nov. 7 after county staffers identified absentee ballots that were counted on election night but weren’t included in the totals posted to the website due to “an incomplete transfer of data from [one] scanner to the state election reporting system,” according to Sherburne County Administrator Bruce Messelt.

The hand recount is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Monday at the Sherburne County Government Center in Elk River.

Staff writers Jenny Berg and Josie Albertson-Grove contributed to this story.