Mystery of 21 Missing Ballots in Minnesota Blamed on Human Error, Costing Republicans Majority in House

The Scott County Attorney’s Office has attributed the disappearance of 21 ballots in Minnesota House District 54A to human error.

This occurred during the collection of early absentee ballots.

Voters were checked in, but their ballots weren’t included in the totals, sparking an investigation.

They allege it was “likely disposed”.

The discrepancy remains unresolved but is believed to stem from procedural confusion.

Missing 21 ballots.

Seems like a trivial amount.

But wouldn’t you know it, the race was decided by just 14 votes. What are the chances?

BREAKING: 21 missing ballots "were likely DISPOSED" in Scott County, Minnesota.

Rep. Tabke (D) won here by just 𝟭𝟰 𝘃𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀.

This race cost Republicans a majority in Minnesota's State House. pic.twitter.com/DnOqol17LW

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) November 27, 2024

🚨 BREAKING: Scott County’s investigation into the 21 missing ballots in the MN House District 54A race found they were “likely disposed.”

This race was decided by just 14 votes, leaving the State House tied 67-67.

This is unacceptable. We need a new election! pic.twitter.com/QeqXGST55Z

— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) November 27, 2024

Fox News reports:

The mystery over 21 missing ballots in Minnesota House District 54A appears to be the result of human error, according to the Scott County Attorney’s Office.

“The preliminary investigation into the 21-ballot discrepancy hasn’t been determinative thus far, and it appears likely to be the result of human error that occurred during the collection of early absentee ballots at the City of Shakopee. This unfortunate situation resulted in a level of confusion that should not have occurred,” said County Attorney Ron Hocevar. “In the interest of full transparency, we have included a link to the information provided to the attorneys for both candidates this morning. It’s important to note that the investigation is ongoing and we hope that more information will be forthcoming.”

There’s been mystery in the House District 54A race, which includes Shakopee and Scott County, after some voters checked in to vote but whose ballots did not appear in the vote totals.

Scott County began investigating why it counted 21 more people checking in to vote early at two precincts than it counted returned ballots from that precinct.

The mystery led to House Republicans saying they plan to file an election contest lawsuit after incumbent Rep. Rob Tabke (DFL-Shakopee) beat Republican challenger Aaron Paul by 14 votes after a hand recount of ballots.

READ MORE: MN House Republicans filing election contest lawsuit in District 54A
Human error is likely cause for missing ballots
On Wednesday, the Scott County Attorney’s Office released its preliminary investigation report about the 21 missing ballots in Shakopee, finding “Scott County has come to the conclusion that the ballots were likely disposed of while they were in their secrecy envelopes, after being removed from their signature envelopes but before being tabulated.”

The issue with the missing ballots was discovered during an audit on Nov. 7, with county staff finding 20 ballot records for Precinct 10 and one for Precinct 12A. It’s not uncommon for one voter to check in and not vote, so the discrepancy in Precinct 12A was not pursued and the focus was on Precinct 10, the report says.

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In precinct 10, Shakopee reported processing 329 voters but reported results for 309 ballots, with the transfer case holding 309 ballots. The ballots for Shakopee were counted at least four times, the report says.

The investigation into the ballots is ongoing, but Scott County staff made the following “preliminary conclusions” based on the “facts that there were 20 accepted ballots for [Precinct] 10 on Oct. 17 (exactly matching the discrepancy for that precinct), and the tabulator numbers showed a discrepancy as of Oct. 18 (the first day ballots would have been scanned and that the secrecy envelopes were disposed of):”

Here’s a fun flashback from 4 years ago.

Strange things keep occurring with ballots in Minnesota:

🚨FLASHBACK: In 2020, Project Veritas and James O'Keefe released a video exposing a cash-for-votes harvesting scheme in Minnesota, naming Ilhan Omar as the mastermind behind it.

The video exposes a ballot harvester who bought a registration form for an absentee ballot from a… pic.twitter.com/MOlFkjfbi3

— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) January 29, 2024