Following the November election, where Rep-Elect Brad Tabke was announced the winner of the District 54A House seat by a margin of 14 votes, Scott County officials admitted that an election official in Shakopee threw 20 ballots in the trash and they were not recorded in the election. In December, Republicans sued in a Scott County court to challenge the election.
Despite this massive issue of election integrity, a Scott County judge ruled in favor of Tabke on Tuesday morning, finding no need for a special election. Now Democrats across the state are touting the decision by the Court.
There’s just one problem. Brad Tabke and his lawyers on Monday argued that the Court’s opinion DID NOT matter!
In a court brief on Monday, Rep-Elect Tabke’s own lawyers argued that the Court has “no jurisdiction to issue a final and binding decision” in the matter of the contested election. They wrote that the “Court’s decision is purely advisory.”
The final decision of who is placed as a member of the Minnesota House, according to the Minnesota Constitution, is the House itself. And Brad Tabke, along with 65 of his Democrat colleagues, have so far refused to show up, present their election certificates and be sworn into office.
Every vote should count in our elections. When ballots are thrown in the trash and not counted, and the race is decided with a margin below the amount of discarded ballots, there should be a new election. If Tabke disagrees with this, he has every right to show up to the Minnesota House of Representatives and make his case.
