MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Republicans filed a lawsuit Monday to try to force a rerun of a state House race where the incumbent Democrat won by 14 votes — but in which investigators concluded that election workers probably destroyed 20 valid absentee ballots after failing to count them.
It's a race that could determine the balance of power in the Minnesota House, where leaders from both parties are working out the details of a power-sharing agreement that currently presumes a 67-67 tie when the Legislature convenes next month. A Republican victory in a special election could shift that balance to a two-vote, 68-66 GOP majority.
Democrats have a one-vote majority in the state Senate. So regardless of the outcome in the disputed race, Minnesota will be returning to some degree of divided government in 2025 after two years of full Democratic control.
“The actions of Scott County elections officials constitute a serious breach of not only Minnesota Election Law, but the public trust in our electoral system,” the lawsuit said.
Democratic Rep. Brad Tabke was declared the winner last week of the swing suburban Shakopee-area District 54A race by 14 votes after a recount and the official canvass. But Scott County election officials had said earlier, after a post-election audit, that they were unable to account for 21 absentee ballots in the district southwest of Minneapolis.
County Attorney Ronald Hocevar reported last Wednesday that his preliminary investigation determined that election workers most likely threw at least 20 of those absentee ballots away, and that they may have been in a paper bale that a recycler had already sent away for shredding. He wrote that they “most likely will not be recovered,” and that even if they were found, it's unlikely that an unbroken chain of custody could be proven to assure that they weren't tampered with.
In Minnesota, absentee voters complete their ballots, place them in a security envelope to protect their privacy, then place that envelope inside a signature envelope with identifying information on the outside so that election workers can check those ballots in. Once the counting begins, the ballots are supposed to be removed from the security envelopes and tabulated.
The county attorney concluded that the 20 ballots, all from the same precinct, were properly accepted for counting on Oct. 17, but “most likely were never removed from their secrecy envelopes,” and were probably still in them when those envelopes were thrown away. The investigation didn’t determine what happened to the 21st ballot, which was cast in a different precinct.
It’s not the first time in recent years that absentee ballots have gone missing.
When a small number of military ballots in Pennsylvania ended up in a trash can in 2020, President Donald Trump repeatedly seized on the case to support his claims of fraud heading into that election. After investigating, authorities found a temporary county election worker had mistakenly discarded seven military ballots in the trash and mishandled two others. The ballots were later retrieved from a garbage dumpster and counted, and the worker was fired.
Minnesota House Republicans filed Monday's lawsuit on behalf of GOP candidate Aaron Paul, asking a court to declare the results invalid and Tabke's seat vacant, saying the “undisputed facts” make it impossible to rely on the results.
The current House minority leader, Rep. Lisa Demuth, of Cold Spring, said a new election is the best way to protect the integrity of the process.
"We appreciate the efforts by Scott County to investigate this matter and be transparent about their findings,” Demuth said in a statement.
But House Democrats said they believe they will win the court challenge.
“Rep. Brad Tabke won the election in District 54A by the count on Election Night and in the recount," current Speaker Melissa Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, said in a statement. "We expect Rep. Tabke will prevail again in the election contest.”
Republicans also filed a lawsuit last month over a different House race, in the suburban Roseville area, where they allege the winner doesn't live in the district. Democrats deny that, and the district is heavily Democratic, so that case is unlikely to change the balance of power even if there's a special election.
Associated Press writer Christina Almeida Cassidy contributed to this story from Atlanta.
This story has been corrected to show the GOP House majority would be two votes, not one, if its candidate wins a special election, not .
FILE - Morning light strikes the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Technology stocks pulled Wall Street to another record amid a mixed Monday of trading.
The S&P 500 rose 0.2% from its all-time high set on Friday to post a record for the 54th time this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 128 points, or 0.3%, while the Nasdaq composite gained 1%.
Super Micro Computer, a stock that’s been on an AI-driven roller coaster, soared 28.7% to lead the market.
Following allegations of misconduct and the resignation of its public auditor, the maker of servers used in artificial-intelligence technology said an investigation found no evidence of misconduct by its management or by the company’s board. It also said that it doesn’t expect to restate its past financials and that it will find a new chief financial officer, appoint a general counsel and make other moves to strengthen its governance.
Big Tech stocks also helped prop up the market. Gains of 1.8% for Microsoft and 3.2% for Meta Platforms were the two strongest forces pushing upward on the S&P 500.
Intel was another propellant during the morning, but it lost an early gain to fall 0.5% after the chip company said CEO Pat Gelsinger has retired and stepped down from the board. Intel is looking for Gelsinger’s replacement, and its chair said it’s “committed to restoring investor confidence.” Intel recently lost its spot in the Dow Jones Industrial Average to Nvidia, which has skyrocketed in Wall Street’s frenzy around AI.
Stellantis, meanwhile, skidded following the announcement of its CEO’s departure. Carlos Tavares steps down after nearly four years in the top spot of the automaker, which owns car brands like Jeep, Citroën and Ram, amid an ongoing struggle with slumping sales and an inventory backlog at dealerships. The world’s fourth-largest automaker’s stock fell 6.3% in Milan.
The majority of stocks in the S&P 500 likewise fell, including California utility PG&E. It dropped 5% after saying it would sell $2.4 billion of stock and preferred shares to raise cash.
Retailers were mixed amid what’s expected to be the best Cyber Monday on record and coming off Black Friday. Target, which recently gave a forecast for the holiday season that left investors discouraged, fell 1.2%. Walmart, which gave a more optimistic forecast, rose 0.2%.
Amazon, which looks to benefit from online sales from Cyber Monday, climbed 1.4%.
All told, the S&P 500 added 14.77 points to 6,047.15. The Dow fell 128.65 to 44,782.00, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 185.78 to 19,403.95.
The stock market largely took Donald Trump’s latest threat on tariffs in stride. The president-elect on Saturday threatened 100% tariffs against a group of developing economies if they act to undermine the U.S. dollar. Trump said he wants the group, headlined by Brazil, Russia, India and China, to promise it won’t create a new currency or otherwise try to undercut the U.S. dollar.
The dollar has long been the currency of choice for global trade. Speculation has also been around a long time that other currencies could knock it off its mantle, but no contender has come close.
The U.S. dollar’s value rose Monday against several other currencies, but one of its strongest moves likely had less to do with the tariff threats. The euro fell amid a political battle in Paris over the French government’s budget. The euro sank 0.7% against the U.S. dollar and broke below $1.05.
In the bond market, Treasury yields gave up early gains to hold relatively steady. The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed above 4.23% during the morning before falling back to 4.19%. That was just above its level of 4.18% late Friday.
A report in the morning showed the U.S. manufacturing sector contracted again last month, but not by as much as economists expected.
This upcoming week will bring several big updates on the job market, including the October job openings report, weekly unemployment benefits data and the all-important November jobs report. They could steer the next moves for Federal Reserve, which recently began pulling interest rates lower to give support to the economy.
Economists expect Friday’s headliner report to show U.S. employers accelerated their hiring in November, coming off October’s lackluster growth that was hampered by damaging hurricanes and strikes.
“We now find ourselves in the middle of this Goldilocks zone, where economic health supports earnings growth while remaining weak enough to justify potential Fed rate cuts,” according to Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide.
In financial markets abroad, Chinese stocks led gains worldwide as monthly surveys showed improving conditions for manufacturing, partly driven by a surge in orders ahead of Trump’s inauguration next month.
Both official and private sector surveys of factory managers showed strong new orders and export orders, possibly partly linked to efforts by importers in the U.S. to beat potential tariff hikes by Trump once he takes office.
Indexes rose 0.7% in Hong Kong and 1.1% in Shanghai.
AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
FILE - Pedestrians cross Wall Street in New York's Financial District on Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
FILE - People walk past the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, Nov. 26 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
A person looks at an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
