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A trial that kicks off Monday in Shakopee challenges the result of the year’s closest Minnesota House race that could swing partisan control of the chamber. A batch of mishandled ballots is at the forefront.
GOP candidate Aaron Paul contested the election outcome that determined that DFL Rep. Brad Tabke came out ahead by 14 votes. Paul and GOP officials said the results should be reversed and a special election called in the district since 20 absentee ballots were cast but not counted.
Scott County officials announced last month that the absentee ballots from Shakopee were accepted in October but not counted. The ballots and their secrecy envelopes were likely thrown away accidentally between the time they were submitted and Election Day, according to a preliminary investigation. They said the ballots are unlikely to be recovered in a way that could prove they had not been tampered with.
How to handle known information connected to those ballots could be one of the early skirmishes in the case.
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On Thursday, the Scott County Attorney’s Office informed Judge Tracy Perzel that it believes it has identified the voters who cast the missing ballots, although not with 100 percent certainty. The office is seeking a way to share more details with the parties to the case but not in a way that could threaten the privacy of the voters.
“The county is concerned that given the small pool of names it has identified, making those names publicly available would infringe on the voters’ rights to anonymity in their voting (if for instance vote totals change based on court decisions) and that they could be subjected to unwanted attention, contact or even harassment,” Assistant County Attorney Jeanne Andersen wrote in a letter to the judge.
The letter adds, “This is particularly troubling when the county is not absolutely certain these are the individuals connected to the ballots in question (while the county believes its working theory of what happened, there is no definitive proof it is what happened).”
Andersen said a protective order is necessary to limit the amount of information released.
Tabke’s attorney, David Zoll, sent a separate letter to Perzel urging an order that excludes identifiable information from exhibits made public during the trial.
On the challenge in general, Tabke and his attorneys argued that the results of the election should be allowed to stand since it is unlikely that nearly all of the missing ballots would be cast for Paul, changing the election’s outcome.
Another case is also under review in Roseville. Republican Paul Wikstrom challenged the result in that race, alleging that Democrat Curtis Johnson didn’t abide by state residency requirements.
Ramsey County District Court Judge Leonardo Castro has taken the case under advisement and could issue findings or an order at any point.
A ruling that favors Republicans in either case could shift the chamber to GOP control. DFL and GOP leaders said they were planning for a power-sharing agreement when the legislative session starts next month, with members from each party evenly represented on committees. But those talks are on hold as the court cases advance.
