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Hand recounts are on the way in at least two state House races after Republican candidates called for counties to review the results of last week’s elections.

The Scott County Canvassing Board certified its election results Wednesday and announced it would recount ballots in a Shakopee area House contest on Nov. 21 at the request of GOP candidate Aaron Paul. 

In Sherburne County, election officials met a day prior to certify their results – and another Republican candidate, Sue Ek, said she would take the county up on its offer to fund a hand recount in her race. A date has not yet been set.

The results could send Democrats and Republicans to the House of Representatives in a 67-67 split or notch additional wins for the GOP, handing them control of the chamber.

In both contests, Republicans lost to DFL incumbents by narrow margins per the county-certified results. Paul trailed Rep. Brad Tabke by 14 votes and Ek fell 191 votes short of Rep. Dan Wolgamott. 

Days after the election, Scott County rescanned thousands of ballots after it reported a ballot scanning malfunction. And Sherburne County officials reported updated results after they found a memory card that didn’t fully collect and transmit mail-in ballot results.

“It’s kind of been up and down,” Paul told MPR News, “but I have a lot of good people in my corner, and we’re going to continue to fight to make sure every ballot is counted.”

Paul said he believes the election was conducted fairly but wants to ensure that voters feel heard through a recount.

“Do I think there was anything nefarious? No, I mean, when you look at the whole situation, it’s hard to not let your mind go there. Maybe I, maybe I have a little bit more faith in humanity, but I trust you until you can’t be trusted,” Paul said. “So that’s kind of where we’re at.”

Others have questions about what went on behind the scenes.

Ek said she’s pursuing the recount in Sherburne County but still weighing whether to pay for additional recounts in precincts in adjacent counties. That cost would fall to her campaign.

“The vote changes are suspicious, so it just needs to be investigated, and we’ll see how it all plays out,” Ek said. “It can’t be just a gut feeling. That needs to be truly investigated.”

Ek said she plans to attend county canvassing board meetings for areas that govern voting precincts outside of Sherburne County. She didn’t provide additional detail about how she would investigate the results or what she hoped to find.

House Republican Leader Lisa Demuth, of Cold Spring, told MPR News that hand recounts would provide a better answer about what happened.

“We’re not just grasping at straws here. In these two cases, there is reason for question,” Demuth said. “I think we only owe it to Minnesotans and voters to make sure that we are looking at absolutely everything and not just taking the change for what it appears to be.”

“It’s going to take the recounts to let us know how accurate those results are,” Demuth continued.

Election administration experts say the work to certify the election results is when issues typically crop up and can get dealt with. Neal Kelly, a retired registrar of voters from California and a founding member of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Election Security Task Force, said what Sherburne and Scott Counties are dealing with is not unusual.

“I think the general public doesn’t always hear about these things but during the post-election process votes, that’s the time to go through any issues that crop up — mistakes, irregularities,” Kelly said. “You might have missing ballots, you might have ballots that didn’t scan correctly. That is the entire point of that process.”

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Mark Zdechlik

Two Minnesota House races will be up for hand recounts after GOP candidates requested that officials take another look. In both contests, Republicans lost to DFL incumbents by narrow margins per the county-certified results.

GOP Minnesota House candidates say they’ll ‘fight to make sure every ballot is counted’

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