Kevin Dahle Wins Senate District 20 Recount

Dahle, a DFLer in a tight race with Republican Mike Dudley in Senate District 20, won with a 71-vote edge after a three-day recount of all the ballots concluded Friday. The recount added six votes in Dudley's column, while Dahle lost one vote from the election day totals. (Full results below.)

On Dec. 4, the elections board will go over the challenged ballots (one by each Dahle and Dudley) and certify the results.

Recount results

State Senator District 20Recount TotalsRecount Percent Votes for Dudley 20,556 46.97  Votes for Dahle 20,627 47.13 All Other Ballots 2,585 5.91 Ballots challenged by Dahle 1   Ballots challenged by Dudley 1   Ballots challenged by Both 0  

Bryan Wells, Dahle's campaign manager, wrote on Facebook on Friday that the six months of campaigning and extra three weeks of waiting was "absolutely worth it."

"The recount is over: we've won!!! After six long months, the Dahle campaign is victorious," he wrote.

Because the vote totals from Nov. 6's election were within one-half of 1 percent of each other (50.03 percent for Dahle and 49.84 percent for Dudley), an automatic recount was triggered, according to Minnesota statute.

• Check out a precinct-by-precinct breakdown of election day results

The day after the election, Dudley told Patch he was undecided about a recount, which he could have called off.

He said he didn't think he'd be able to make up the difference, but ultimately he decided to let the process play out.

"I have been getting a lot of calls from supporters urging me to go ahead with the recount as required by law," Dudley said the following day when he decided to go ahead with the recount.

Dahle, as an incumbent senator, lost a close race in 2010 to Republican Al DeKruif in what was then known as Senate District 25.

"It feels so much better to win an election," Dahle told Patch after the final unofficial precinct numbers were revealed election night. "I never thought it'd be that close. It's really a tough district."

And that's when the separation was 332 votes. Hours later, the Minnesota Secretary of State's website updated to reveal a 78-vote margin, triggering the recount. 

Senate District 20 includes the northern half of Rice County, most of LeSueur County and the southern part of Scott County.

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Here's a breakdown of the original votes and recount:

LeSueur County

PrecinctNov. 6
Ballots for
DudleyNov. 6
Ballots for
DahleRecount
Votes for
Dudley
(Recounted)Recount
Votes for
Dahle
(Recounted)Recount
All Other
Ballots
(Recounted)Ballots
Challenged by 
Dudley CLEVELAND 143 224 144 224 28 0 CLEVELAND TWP. 218 194 218 194 22 0 CORDOVA TWP. 138 117 138 117 12 0 DERRYNANE TWP. 160 122 160 122 5 0 HEIDELBERG 40 34 41 34 3 0 KASOTA TWP. P-2 315 344 315 344 31 0 KILKENNY 38 36 38 36 2 0 KILKENNY TWP. 119 101 119 101 14 0 LANESBURGH TWP. 710 405 711 405 53 0 LE CENTER 557 449 557 449 45 1 LE SUEUR W-1 538 562 538 562 62 0 LE SUEUR W-2 365 392 365 392 49 0 LEXINGTON TWP. 227 187 227 188 13 0 MONTGOMERY 684 743 684 743 54 0 MONTGOMERY TWP. 211 142 211 143 6 0 NEW PRAGUE 855 621 855 621 74 0 OTTAWA TWP. 75 87 75 87 9 0 SHARON TWP. 203 171 203 171 13 0 TYRONE TWP. 159 161 159 161 15 0 WASHINGTON TWP. 309 200 309 200 29 0

Rice County

PrecinctNov. 6
Ballots for
DudleyNov. 6
Ballots for
DahleRecount
Votes for
Dudley (Recounted)Recount
Votes for
Dahle
(Recounted)Recount
All Other
Ballots
(Recounted)Ballots
Challenged by 
Dahle BRIDGEWATER TWP. 521 616 521 616 39 0 DENNISON CITY 3 7 3 7 0 0 DUNDAS 320 418 320 418 16 0 ERIN TWP. 261 218 261 218 18 0 FOREST TWP. 395 348 395 348 38 0 LONSDALE CITY 1075 699 1075 699 93 0 NORTHFIELD W-1 P-1 67 944 68 944 142 0 NORTHFIELD W-1 P-2 703 1308 703 1308 43 0 NORTHFIELD W-2 P-1 487 820 487 820 40 0 NORTHFIELD W-2 P-2 565 897 566 897 56 1 NORTHFIELD W-3 P-1 469 1051 469 1051 80 0 NORTHFIELD W-4 P-1 280 1004 280 1004 97 0 NORTHFIELD W-4 P-2 173 729 173 729 491 0 NORTHFIELD TWP. 240 263 240 263 13 0 SHIELDSVILLE TWP. 324 312 324 312 33 0 WEBSTER TWP. P-1 281 223 281 222 18 0 WEBSTER TWP. P-2 323 247 323 247 21 0 WHEATLAND TWP. 442 270 442 270 28 0

Scott County

PrecinctNov. 6
Ballots for
DudleyNov. 6
Ballots for
DahleRecount
Votes for
Dudley
(Recounted)Recount
Votes for
Dahle
(Recounted)Recount
All Other
Ballots
(Recounted) BELLE PLAINE 1655 1453 1657 1451 205 BELLE PLAINE TWP. 321 183 321 183 27 BLAKELEY TWP. 152 97 152 97 10 CEDAR LAKE TWP. 1042 544 1042 544 97 ELKO NEW MARKET 1233 746 1232 746 131 HELENA TWP. 633 293 633 293 35 NEW MARKET TWP. 1322 754 1322 754 153 NEW PRAGUE P-2 1199 892 1199 892 122

All Counties

CountyPrecincts RecountedNov. 6
Votes for
DudleyNov. 6
Votes for
DahleRecount
Votes for
Dudley
(Recounted)Recount
Votes for
Dahle
(Recounted)Recount
All Other
Ballots
(Recounted)Ballots
Challenged by 
DahleBallots
Challenged by 
DudleyBallots
Challenged by
Both Le Sueur 20 of 20 6064 5292 6067 5294 539 0 1 0 Rice 18 of 18 6929 10374 6931 10373 1266 1 0 0 Scott 8 of 8 7557 4962 7558 4960 780 0 0 0