Scott County election officials on Tuesday said no one voted more than once in a highly contested Shakopee-area House race, one day after two Republican legislators claimed 30 people cast duplicate votes.
Scott County dismisses GOP legislators’ allegation of ‘duplicate votes’ in close 54A race
After two Republican legislators claimed 30 people voted twice in the race between DFL Rep. Brad Tabke and Republican Aaron Paul, county election officials said the allegations were “erroneous.”
The Minnesota Star Tribune
January 1, 2025 at 10:05PM
Reps. Pam Altendorf, R-Red Wing, and Tom Murphy, R-Underwood, alleged Monday that documents from the Secretary of State’s Office showed 30 people voted twice in the 54A race between DFL Rep. Brad Tabke and Republican Aaron Paul, which Tabke won by only 14 votes. In a Tuesday release, Scott County officials said the two legislators may have misunderstood the difference between voter history reports and the official voter record.
“Elections staff have checked the 30 alleged discrepancies from 54A and can verify that there was only one vote per person,” Scott County Elections Manager Julie Hanson said in the release. “The review of these rosters is all part of the normal election process. Once again, this situation has demonstrated that all of the failsafes, backstops, and processes in place to ensure the integrity of our elections are upheld.”
The razor-thin race has already been dogged by a pending lawsuit over 20 missing absentee ballots in one precinct. A judge has yet to rule in the case, after Paul and the House GOP filed a lawsuit saying elections officials engaged in “deliberate, serious and material violations” of state election law when they declared Tabke the winner by 14 votes.
The race has stakes for the closely divided Minnesota House, with Republicans set to have a one-vote majority when session begins Jan. 14. A special election for a Roseville-area seat on Jan. 28 could create a 67-67 tie.
After the November election, Scott County ran a “duplication report” and found no duplications, officials said. On Dec. 19, Altendorf went to the Secretary of State’s office and paid a fee for the “Registered Voter List,” which was emailed to her. The list was “analyzed by multiple data analysts and lawyers, all coming to the same conclusion that 30 individual voters were each recorded as voting two times in the District 54A election,” according to Altendorf’s release.
Hanson said that assertion isn’t true.
“Absentee voters have an absentee voter ‘record’ that is created at the time of voting,” Hanson said. “This means that the record is verified through an entry into the Voter Registration System. As such, they are prevented from voting again.”
According to Scott County, any voter information that needs to be updated, such as a new address or name change, must be entered by hand into the voter registration system post-election. About 3,000 records needed to be updated this way, including 30 that had their voter history duplicated in the process.
“Simply stated, this error created a duplicate voter history but had no impact on the official voter record," according to the county.
Scott County Administrator Lezlie Vermillion said the legislators’ claims could have been addressed if they’d reported their concerns to the county or the Secretary of State’s office prior to making public allegations of voter fraud.
Eva Herscowitz contributed to this report.
Brian Mock will have two years of supervised release and must make $2,000 in restitution.
