Canvassing board certifies recounts showing Skraba, Zeleznikar wins in Districts 3A, 3B

CORRECTION: The DFL seat advantage will be 70-64 in 2023. The original story said 70-54.

The State Canvassing Board certified Thursday that Roger Skraba and Natalie Zeleznikar will be joining the House.

A report of publicly funded recounts shows that Skraba defeated Rep. Rob Ecklund (DFL-International Falls) by 15 votes out of out of 21,721 votes cast for the District 3A candidates. In District 3B, Zeleznikar ousted 23-term incumbent Rep. Mary Murphy (DFL-Hermantown) by 33 votes out of the 21,593 votes cast for the candidates. Each candidate lost a vote in the District 3A recount; Zeleznikar gained one vote and Murphy three in District 3B.

The DFL will have a 70-64 seat advantage in the House when the 2023 session begins Jan. 3.

"Recounts are one of the features of our elections that gives us confidence the system worked properly on election day and in the days following,” Secretary of State Steve Simon said in a statement. “While recounts are vital for accountability, they can be a daunting task during an already busy time of year. I'm grateful for the service of each Minnesotan who stepped up in these districts before, during, and after the election to ensure that their community received accurate, trustworthy election results.”

On Nov. 29, the canvassing board certified all other results of the 2022 General Election, including state and judicial offices along with eight U.S. House of Representatives races.

[WATCH: Full video of the Nov. 29 meeting]

More than 2.52 million votes were cast in the General Election, including more than 671,000 absentee. During the last non-presidential election in 2018, voter turnout was around 2.6 million, including about 637,000 absentee.

[MORE: Election Results Maps]