House Democrats have threatened an indefinite boycott if Republicans move forward with an effort to assume key leadership positions on a temporary one-vote advantage that they’ll be able to retain for the year and maybe beyond.

It’s not fully clear what Republicans can do if DFLers skip out.

Voters elected 67 Democrats and 67 Republicans to serve in the state House. But in the months since, Democrats lost a seat over a residency challenge. And questions remain over the seating of another DFLer facing an election challenge in Shakopee.

Before lawmakers gavel in today at noon, here are five questions (some of which have answers):

1) Will DFLers show up?

Democrats have said they’ll work in their districts rather than show up at the Capitol. They take issue with Republicans’ efforts to elect one of their own as speaker and assign themselves committee chair positions on the basis of a temporary one-vote advantage.

DFLers argue that withholding votes as their only option to prevent the GOP from taking those steps.

“What we think is really kind of a ridiculous position is to assert that, because for two weeks, they will have a one-seat advantage, that they should control the entire chamber for two years,” Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, said on Monday. “I think that that is untenable.”

“It’s not a place we would like to go. But we are really forced into this position by Republicans threatening to unseat a duly-elected member,” she continued.

Democrats held a secret swearing-in ceremony over the weekend to take their oaths of office. Republicans dispute the legitimacy of that move.

Hortman said Democrats are also concerned that Republicans could refuse to seat DFL Rep. Brad Tabke, who won his Shakopee area seat by 14 votes and has faced a legal challenge from Republicans who want a new election. Twenty ballots were cast in the race but never counted and thrown away.

Republicans say the missing ballots cloud the outcome. Democrats say it would be mathematically impossible for the additional ballots to swing the outcome. Six voters whose ballots weren’t counted took the stand during a trial last month to testify they voted for Tabke.

2) Will Republicans elect a speaker?

Republicans have said they’ll move forward with an effort to elect GOP Leader Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, as House speaker and put fellow Republicans in place as committee chairs.

“We are not at a tie right now, and the actions and the way that the Democrats have shown that they will not work with us, regardless of whether or not they like the circumstances, really brings into question how serious they were going to work with us all the way through on a power sharing (deal) or these antics that we’ve seen,” Demuth said.

But it’s not clear the GOP will get a chance to do that.

Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat, wrote to GOP leaders last week and said there need to be 68 votes in the chamber to do any formal business, what’s known as a quorum.

Republicans insist they have authority to act with 67 members. They said they’ll ignore Simon and accuse him of collaborating with members of his party to grind the House to a halt.

“It appears that other members of your political party will engage in lawless behavior to thwart the lawful organization of the Minnesota House,” the GOP leaders wrote Monday in a letter to Simon. “You need not make yourself an accomplice in their shameful effort.”

Simon responded on Monday and said his assessment had not changed. He said that without 68 members, the chamber would not be able to take up action on electing leaders or other motions.

3) What about the Senate?

Senate leaders announced on Sunday that they’d reached a deal to share power, at least early in the session. Republicans and Democrats will share custody of presiding officer posts and committee chair positions, with the exact rotation of gavels to be determined. They’ll have evenly split representation on committees.

Going into the session, they will be evenly split at 33-33 with no tiebreaker. A special election for a Minneapolis area seat will break the tie late this month. And the power-sharing deal could be reversed once one caucus gets a 34th member.

But top lawmakers said whatever procedural rules adopted early in session will stay in place for the remainder of the year.

4) What do lawmakers have to do this year?

Lawmakers must pass a two-year budget before July 1 or the state could face a government shutdown. They could also take up a public construction finance bill because they weren’t able to get one across the finish line last year.

They could also weigh a variety of policy bills and possible tweaks to Minnesota’s budding legal cannabis marketplace and paid family and medical leave program that is set to go live next year.

5) What’s the deadline?

Lawmakers have to adjourn the legislative session on May 19. But they could be summoned back for a special session if they can’t get their work done on time.