With DFLer Tabke in the lead, Scott County canvassing board certifies House 54A race

Republicans and DFLers are one step closer to officially sharing power in the Minnesota House after Scott County’s canvassing board met Monday to certify the results of a closely watched contest. But with DFL Rep. Brad Tabke in the lead, the protracted fight for the District 54A seat might not be over.

Republicans backing Aaron Paul have raised repeated alarms about several missing absentee ballots, with one leader contending the race can’t be certified when some 21 votes remain unaccounted for. And although the five-member board verified the tallied votes, candidates and voters now have seven days to file an election contest with the courts.

Monday’s meeting proceeded at a standard, yet occasionally tense, clip. The board members reviewed four challenged ballots flagged during a recount last Thursday of nearly 22,000 ballots, changing one vote previously called for Tabke to a so-called no-vote. That no-vote — meaning it wasn’t clear on a ballot which candidate a voter had selected — reduced Tabke’s lead over Paul by one vote, from 15 to 14.

Though the canvassing board members assembled to certify the tallied votes, much of the meeting revolved around what Reid LeBeau, Paul’s attorney, called “the elephant in the room” — 21 missing absentee ballots.

Scott County previously announced that officials couldn’t locate 20 absentee ballots checked in at the 10th Precinct and another absentee ballot marked at Precinct 12A. Julie Hanson, the county’s property and customer service manager, said at Monday’s meeting that officials hope to complete an investigation into the situation as soon as possible.

LeBeau, who appeared over Zoom, didn’t say whether Paul would file an election contest. But he pointed the board members to a Minnesota statute allowing them to determine, via majority vote, if election judges made errors in counting or recording votes. That majority vote can then trigger court involvement, with a judge potentially ruling on the alleged mistake and issuing an order directing the board to inspect ballots.

“I hope we would agree that 21 missing ballots would be a very obvious error,” he said.

David Zoll, Tabke’s attorney, pushed back on LeBeau’s argument, contending the statute only applies to potential errors in the counting or recording of votes on election night and during the recount — and that no such mistakes occurred. He said the statute doesn’t apply to the absentee ballot situation, noting that even if it did, the canvassing board members don’t have enough information to weigh in on potential mistakes pertaining to those missing ballots.

Scott County Attorney Ron Hocevar said the board was there to certify the tallied votes regardless of the missing ballots. He also said the county is committed to “getting to the bottom” of the situation, adding that officials will release information about the investigation when it becomes available.

LeBeau said he’s worried the investigation’s results could come out after the seven-day election contest period has passed. “This vague timeline … doesn’t really tell us anything,” he said.

Hocevar responded that the county won’t prevent any candidate from “having their day in court.”

Hanson said in a news release after Monday’s meeting that the drawn-out 54A race demonstrates “how the system is designed to work, with checks, rechecks, and verifications.”

But her repeated assurances haven’t discouraged some Republicans from questioning the electoral contest.

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, R-Cold Spring, 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.”

Demuth 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.

The continued interest in this race — tight since Election Day — speaks to its significance.

If Tabke and Dan Wolgamott, another DFL representative whose race was recounted Monday, officially hold onto their seats, DFLers and Republicans will each have 67 seats in a rare tie, sharing power for the first time since 1979.

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 after 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.

The 54A contest isn’t the only protracted race that will determine the balance of power in the state House. In Sherburne County, officials on Monday recounted ballots cast in the contest between Wolgamott and Republican Sue Ek for the St. Cloud-area 14B seat.

Wolgamott led Ek by 190 votes following the recount. Even though the incumbent’s lead was outside the threshold for an automatic recount, Sherburne County opted to pay for a hand recount of three Sherburne County precincts within District 14B in an effort to quash rumors of misconduct.

The next step is for the state Canvassing Board, which met last week, to convene again to certify the 54A and 14B races.

Staff writer Jenny Berg contributed to this story.