State Canvassing Board certifies Minnesota's election results

Minnesota's midterm election results are now official.

The State Canvassing Board unanimously certified the results on Tuesday and approved plans for recounts in two tight legislative races. Minnesota Democrats who won full control of state government by holding the governor's office and House and flipping the Senate can breathe a sigh of relief now that their victories have been formalized.

"I want to thank all the people who don't get enough recognition for the work they did in putting on this statewide general election," said Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon, who leads the five-member board. "It takes 30,000 election judges or poll workers to stand up and step up and do that job."

County canvassing boards reviewed and certified votes cast within their borders before the state board met Tuesday. The state board certifies results for statewide and federal offices, and legislative and judicial offices that serve more than one county.

About 2.5 million Minnesotans voted in this year's midterms, state Elections Director David Maeda said. That's down slightly from the 2.6 million Minnesotans who voted in the 2018 midterm election.

A total of 671,000 people voted absentee this year in Minnesota, he said, up slightly from 637,000 in 2018.

"It was quite a bit less than 2020 when we had about 1.9 million absentee voters — of course, the pandemic played a role in that," Maeda said. "But absentee voting remains a very popular way to vote for many Minnesotans."

The board also approved publicly funded recounts in House Districts 3A and 3B in northeastern Minnesota. In 3A, Republican Roger Skraba held a 15-vote lead over DFL state Rep. Rob Ecklund. And Republican Natalie Zeleznikar was up 35 votes over DFL state Rep. Mary Murphy.

The recounts will begin next week, Maeda said.