Sen. Grace Schwab (R-Albert Lea) and Dan Sparks are tied after Thursday's State Senate District 27 recount in Mower County.

With recounted votes in Fillmore and Mower counties and the Nov. 5 results in Freeborn, the candidates each have 15,062 votes, said Mower County Auditor Woody Vereide.

Nov. 5 results had shown Schwab losing to Sparks by 33 votes. Because the difference is less than 100 votes, state statutes state the votes must be recounted.

However, election judges also found that 17 ballots are missing from the 1st Precinct in the 2nd Ward in Austin, Vereide said.

Vereide said that discrepancy may go to the Minnesota Supreme Court. Vereide is meeting with the Austin city clerk today to get all election results in Mower County in one area.

"We simply don't have any idea what's going on," Vereide said.

Vereide said he does not think the ballots were tampered with.

Results Thursday showed Sparks still leading in Mower County, but each candidate gained votes after the recount. On Nov. 5, Sparks had 8,004 votes, but gained 42 to be at 8,046. Schwab gained 77 votes, putting her at 6,900.

The change in votes is mostly due to ballots not being read by the optical scanners in Austin. Bert Black, legal analyst for the Secretary of State's office, said if the marks on the ballots are too light, the scanner can't read them.

"That's precisely why we do a hand count," Black said.

When recounting the votes, the election judges sort the ballots by "Dan," "Grace," and "Other," and say the names aloud.

"We started out saying Schwab, Sparks, but that was too many S's," Black said. "Saying the first names makes it more clear who the vote is for."

Then each judge counts the stacks. The judges record the number of votes only if they agree.

"There really isn't any substitute for the human eye and the human brain," Black said.

Representatives from the candidates' campaigns and their attorneys observed the recount Thursday. They were also in Fillmore County Wednesday and planned to be in Freeborn County today.

There are also 11 contested ballots from Mower and Fillmore, which will not be counted until the state canvassing board reviews them Tuesday.

Black said there are a number of guidelines to follow if the judges cannot tell who a person voted for or voted at all. Black showed one example of an Austin optical-scanned ballot where the person colored over the arrow near candidates' names instead of connecting the arrows.

The arrow near Sparks' name was blackened, but the candidates' attorneys did not agree whether the person voted. The canvassing board will decide that ballot's results Tuesday.

Minnesota's guidelines, however, state that if it appears the voter marked the ballot consistently, although incorrectly, their choices would count, Black said. Another guideline said if the voter makes a mark near a name, it counts.

"It's a close race and people are looking at every vote," Black said.

Recounting continues today in Freeborn County.

-- The Albert Lea Tribune contributed to this report.

Cari Quam can be reached at 434-2235 or by e-mail at mailto:cari.quam@austindailyherald.com