AUSTIN — The fate of the District 27A House of Representatives race now lies in the hands of the state Canvassing Board, as results from the Nov. 2 general election are now canvassed in both Freeborn and Mower counties.

Mower County officially certified its votes on Tuesday after postponing a session last Friday, because of a discrepancy in the number of absentee ballots listed on the state abstract. The error was corrected, and Mower County Auditor-Treasurer Doug Groh said the discrepancy had nothing to do with the vote counts.

GOP challenger Rich Murray is officially leading incumbent DFLer Robin Brown by 57 votes in the race. Freeborn County’s results were canvassed Friday.

A recount is expected in this race, as Minnesota law states an automatic recount is triggered when there is a margin of victory of 0.5 percent or less. The margin of victory in this race is less than 0.4 percent.

Murray said he is moving forward, business as usual.

“When you look at the ballots, I don’t think anything will change a whole lot. Those machines are just too good,” Murray said. “Robin said the same thing. We don’t view anything changing in the race.”

Brown’s campaign manager and husband, Joseph Brown Sr., agreed that they don’t expect any drastic changes and do believe a recount will verify the results.

He said they don’t view the recount as a big deal, as two other House races along with the governor’s race are also expecting recounts.

Even after the state Canvassing Board meets on Nov. 23, and after a possible recount slated for Nov. 29, Brown said that Robin will continue to serve the final two months of her term.

“Elections come and go, but constituents still have needs and Robin will continue to work for her constituents on a local and state level,” he said.

Murray said this Friday he’s slated to attend an orientation at the State Capitol and “freshman orientation” scheduled the first week in December.

In what many called a nail-biter race, even prior to Election Night, it hasn’t been without a few intense moments since the unofficial results poured in on Nov. 2.

Murray was leading Brown by 58 votes after results were tallied on Election Night.

When the Freeborn County Canvassing Board met to certify its results Friday, however, Brown had gained one vote, narrowing Murray’s lead to 57 votes.

Freeborn County Auditor-Treasurer Dennis Distad said an absentee ballot from Albert Lea’s Ward 2, which did not get into the first set of general election results, was tallied and entered into the results certified by the Freeborn County Canvassing Board on Friday.

The Mower County Canvassing Board also met on Friday to certify its results, but postponed the procedure because of an error on the state abstract.

Mower County officials reconvened on Tuesday and officially certified its results.

According to Mower County Auditor-Treasurer Doug Groh, the state abstract listed the number of absentee ballots accepted as 803. He said the number of absentee ballots accepted was 826.

He said an error likely occurred during data entry by one of the precincts, but that error did not have any affect on the total vote counts.

The state Canvassing Board will officially certify the results on Nov. 23, determining whether the recount will take place.

A hand recount for the House District 27A race is slated for 9 a.m. Nov. 29.

Later that same day, a hand recount for the governor’s race is also slated, barring any surprises between today and the date the state Canvassing Board meets.

Equipment review

The “post-election equipment review” was scheduled for 9 a.m. today in the Freeborn Room at the Government Center. The check was open to the public.

It is required by state law to ensure the accuracy of the voting equipment. It is not related to the pending recounts.Two precincts were chosen at random for the PEER review: Riceland Township and Geneva.

Distad said that those precincts will bring at least two of their election judges to the review, who will count all ballots from their respective precincts, by hand, to ensure the machine tabulated the results correctly. They will compare the results, by statute, with the races for governor and U.S. representative.

Those results will also be sent to the Secretary of State’s Office.