Just days after Scott County officials said nearly two dozen ballots were accidentally discarded without being counted in the race for House District 54A, the Minnesota House Republican caucus filed an election contest lawsuit on behalf of the GOP candidate in the District 54A race, Aaron Paul, who trails incumbent Democrat Brad Tabke by 14 votes after a hand recount of ballots

Scott County elections officials in Shakopee acknowledge that 21 absentee ballots appear to have been inadvertently discarded before they were counted. They were thrown in a recycling bin, delivered to a recycling center and shredded before they could be retrieved.

GOP House Speaker-designate Lisa Demuth had said on social media last week that the lawsuit would be filed. According to the GOP election contest filing, Scott County elections officials “irretrievably lost and failed to count 21 ballots.”

The court filing in Scott County District Court goes on to say, “20 of these were unquestionably lawful and validly-cast ballots that Minnesota law required to be counted.”

In calling for a new election in District 54A, Republicans argue, “at the very least the actual victor is in absolute doubt and at worst the candidate who received fewer votes has been announced as the winner.”

Hamline University Political Science Professor David Schultz says he believes Republicans have a valid argument for a new election.

“They do have a decent case for it,” Schultz told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS on Monday. “Let’s say for the sake of argument it’s completely innocent in terms of what happened here, someone made a mistake. A judge could still conclude and say the results are not reliable.”

The key being that there’s a 14-vote margin and 21 missing ballots.

The case bears some resemblance to a 2002 state Senate election case in 2002 in Austin, MN, where an election judge burned 17 ballots in her fireplace in a race that ultimately was decided by 11 votes.

No charges were filed against the election judge, who says she mistakenly thought the ballots could be thrown out because they included votes for the late Sen. Paul Wellstone who died in a plane crash just before the election. However, those ballots also included votes for several other races, including a very close state Senate race.

“Seventeen ballots are gone,” one election attorney told the state canvassing board in 2002. “I mean, they’re up the chimney by an election judge.”

One difference between the two cases is that in 2002 the 17 ballots had been initially counted, but they were thrown away before they could be recounted. No one knew for sure who those ballots would have gone to. A judge in an election contest resulting from that case decided not to call for a new election despite all the uncertainty.

In 2024, even more is at stake because if the Republican wins 54A the GOP would control the House 68-66 instead of the current 67-67 tie that would continue if the Democrat prevails.

Schultz says the two cases are a reminder of something that seems so simple and was one of the first things he learned in law school. “Never throw anything away. Never destroy documents. Make sure you preserve everything.”

According to state law, an election contest trial needs to start within 20 days after the filing of an election contest.

The Minnesota Legislature convenes on January 14.

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