With control of the Minnesota House undecided and the outcome of two races down to fewer than a dozen votes, recounts will likely determine the balance of power in the lower legislative chamber at the Capitol.

For legislative races, taxpayer-funded recounts occur when the results are within 0.5% of the total votes cast. For races where 20,000 votes are cast, the margin would need to be 100 ballots or fewer.

Both the District 14B race in St. Cloud and the District 54A contest in Shakopee are close enough to qualify. Candidates in races with larger margins can request discretionary recounts at their expense.

The optical-scan machines Minnesota uses to tabulate voters are very accurate, but not perfect. About 1 in every few thousand ballots are marked in a way the machines cannot read, according to the Minnesota Secretary of State.

Initiating a recount

To start the recount process, the losing candidate would need to ask for one within 48 hours following a canvassing board meeting in public session. County canvassing boards typically certify election results within a week after Election Day.

The state canvassing board certifies results that include multiple counties, statewide elections, state and federal offices and constitutional ballot questions. The state canvassing board meets the 16th day following a general election and also reviews each of the 87 counties' canvassing reports.

House District 54A is entirely in Scott County, so a recount can be requested after the canvassing board meets Nov. 13. District 14B covers multiple counties so a recount can be requested after the state canvassing board meets on Nov. 21.

It is unclear how long the recount process will take.

How recounts work

Recounts are open to the public with observation areas. They are overseen by a recount official, typically the local county auditor, and only trained election officials can handle ballots.

First, all eligible ballots, both absentee ballots and those cast on Election Day, are assembled and separated by precinct within the county where they were cast. Ballots are put into separate piles for each candidate in the recount, as well as one for all other ballots.

Ballots where the voter's intent cannot be determined or that are deemed ineligible because of other markings are also separated. Candidates can have representatives watch and challenge the ballot sorting and counting.

The recount official decides whether challenges are valid and sends those ballots to the appropriate canvassing board for review.

After ballots are sorted, they are counted in stacks of 25, and each precinct's vote tally for each candidate is announced.