AP/MINNEAPOLIS In an attempt to compel a rerun of a state House election in which the incumbent Democrat prevailed by 14 votes, Minnesota Republicans filed a lawsuit Monday. The investigation found that election officials likely destroyed 20 legitimate absentee ballots after neglecting to count them.
When the Legislature meets next month, officials from both parties are figuring out the specifics of a power-sharing arrangement that now assumes a 67-67 tie. This contest might decide the distribution of power in the Minnesota House. That ratio might change to a one-vote GOP majority if Republicans win a special election.
In the state Senate, Democrats hold a one-vote majority. Therefore, after two years of total Democratic control, Minnesota will be reverting to some form of divided government in 2025, regardless of the outcome of the contentious election.
According to the lawsuit, Scott County elections officials’ acts seriously violate both Minnesota Election Law and the public’s confidence in our voting system.
Following a recount and the official canvass, Democratic Representative Brad Tabke was proclaimed the victor of the District 54A campaign, which is in the Shakopee section of the suburbs, by a margin of 14 votes last week. However, during a post-election examination, Scott County election officials had previously stated that they could not account for 21 absentee ballots in the district southwest of Minneapolis.
Last Wednesday, County Attorney Ronald Hocevar announced that his initial inquiry had found that at least 20 of those absentee ballots were probably thrown away by poll workers and might have been in a paper bale that had already been shipped off for shredding by a recycler. They probably won’t be retrieved, he wrote, and even if they were, it’s doubtful that an intact chain of custody could be established to guarantee that they weren’t tampered with.
In order for election officials to check the ballots in, absentee voters in Minnesota fill out their forms, place them in a security envelope to preserve their privacy, and then place that envelope inside a signature envelope with identifying information on the outside. The ballots are to be taken out of the protective envelopes and tabulated after the counting starts.
The county attorney came to the conclusion that although the 20 ballots from the same precinct were legitimately accepted for counting on October 17, they were probably never taken out of their secrecy envelopes and were still inside when they were disposed of. The 21st ballot, which was cast in a different precinct, was not the subject of the investigation.
Absentee ballots have been lost for other reasons in recent years.
President Donald Trump regularly used the incident to bolster his allegations of fraud before the 2020 election when a tiny number of military votes in Pennsylvania wound up in a garbage can. Following an investigation, officials discovered that a temporary county election worker had handled two military ballots improperly and thrown seven of them in the trash. The employee was fired after the ballots were later recovered from a trash dumpster and counted.
On behalf of GOP candidate Aaron Paul, Minnesota House Republicans filed a complaint on Monday, requesting that the court declare the results void and Tabke’s seat empty, citing the uncontested facts that render the results untrustworthy.
Rep. Lisa Demuth of Cold Spring, the current House minority leader, stated that the only approach to preserve the process’s integrity is to have a fresh election.
Demuth stated in a statement, “We appreciate Scott County’s efforts to look into this matter and be open about their findings.”
However, House Democrats stated that they think the legal challenge will be successful.
Current Speaker Melissa Hortman of Brooklyn Park declared in a statement that Rep. Brad Tabke had won the race in District 54A by the count on race Night and in the recount. We anticipate that Rep. Tabke will win the election once more.
In a separate House contest in the Roseville suburbs, Republicans also filed a complaint last month, claiming the victor does not reside in the district. Even if there is a special election, Democrats contest that, and the district is mostly Democratic, so it is unlikely that the case will alter the balance of power.
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This story was written from Atlanta by Christina Almeida Cassidy of the Associated Press.
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