A recount for State Senate District 27 will take place after the state canvassing board meeting scheduled for Nov. 19, where results of Tuesday's general election will be certified, Mower County Auditor Woody Vereide said.

Ballots cannot be recounted until the results have been certified, Vereide said. After certification, the state will have seven days to recount the ballots.

Dan Sparks beat incumbent Sen. Grace Schwab (R-Albert Lea) Tuesday by 33 votes with 15,020 going to Sparks and 14,987 to Schwab. Independence Party candidate Terry Kelley received 2,950 votes and write-in candidate Jennifer LeeAnn Ney received none.

Paul Overgaard, head of Schwab's campaign, said he and other campaign workers were shocked by the close result. He thought Schwab was well-received by the public and that she ran a clean campaign.

"We were pretty surprised. We were really confident the voters recognized Grace did a good job and send her back," Overgaard said. "We haven't been able to figure it out. I'm puzzled at what was behind that."

Sparks said he and his campaign thought the race would be tight.

"I think that we knew it would be a close, tough race," he said.

Schwab, who could not be reached by telephone, released a statement Wednesday about the results and the recount.

"This election was unusually chaotic. From the added complications of the supplemental U.S. Senate ballots to record voter turnout, our Secretary of State wants to be very careful to re-examine any races that turned out as close as ours," Schwab said.

Sparks said he is confident the election judges did their job well and said he is looking forward to serving District 27.

"I'm always going to put people before politics," he said.

Schwab said she will continue to concentrate on her job as senator until the final race results are announced.

"Whatever the voters in this district decided (Tuesday) is the right answer, we just have to find out what that decision actually was," Schwab said.

Schwab thanked those who worked on her campaign and said, "whether it is in the Senate or at the local level, I look forward to continue bettering our communities and quality of life with these citizens in the future."

Distad said the recount would be conducted by state officials, not by the county, since the district lies across three counties: Freeborn and Mower counties, and a part of Fillmore County. The counties' election officials have started talking with the state department about the details of the process, he said.

The state, however, has not communicated with Mower County, said auditor Woody Vereide.

Distad said it's unlikely the recount will change the results.

"All ballots in Freeborn County were counted by machines," he said. "Mower County still uses paper votes partly, but the election judges must have examined them very carefully. I think the 33-vote difference is difficult to be overturned."

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