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District 54A race in Shakopee officially headed for a recount

Democratic Representative Brad Rabke leads Republican challenger Aaron Paul by only 14 votes in Shakopee's District 54A race.

SHAKOPEE, Minn. — A recount has officially been requested for the closest election in any Minnesota legislative district this cycle after the Scott County Canvassing Board certified the election results Wednesday afternoon. Democratic Representative Brad Rabke leads Republican challenger Aaron Paul by only 14 votes in Shakopee's District 54A race. 

This Scott County Canvassing Board meeting garnered a lot of attention not only because of how close the 54A race is, but because of 20 ballots in Shakopee precinct 10, that would directly impact the 54A race. 

"We had 329 people check in to absentee vote, we received 309 ballots back," said Scott County election official Julie Hanson.

Hanson says they will continue to audit and investigate the situation, but at the end of the day, the canvassing board's job is to certify the ballots that they have received. Now that results have been certified by the county canvassing board, they will be sent to the Secretary of States Office to be certified there on Nov. 21.

"This is the system working the way it's supposed to work," said Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon. "The public and the political parties and the candidates can look and see and touch and feel and ask questions, and that's exactly what we want."

The state will cover the recount since the margin of victory is lower than .5%. That recount of 22,000 ballots will begin also on Nov. 21.

"There's high degrees of transparency, and high degrees in terms of security in this process here," said Hamline University Political Science Professor David Schultz. 

Although Schultz feels recounts are important, he acknowledges they don't have a history of actually changing the outcome. 

With Democrats and Republicans tied at 67 seats a piece in the State House, if the recount were to flip the district 54A race in Republican Aaron Paul's favor, it would change the entire balance of power in the State Legislature.

The House District 14B race is Sherburne County is also headed for a recount. Democratic incumbent Dan Wolgamott leads Republican Sue Ek by 191 votes. Due to an issue with results on election night, Sherburne County says they will cover the cost and hand recount the voters so there is complete transparency.

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