Representatives from the Minnesota Secretary of State's office will descend on Mower County next week to hand-count votes in the Senate District 27 race.

The counting will take place Thursday in the lower level of the Mower County Courthouse. Mower County Auditor Woody Veriede said the counting of the ballots will be open to the public.

Secretary of State officials will start the recount Wednesday in Fillmore County, conduct the recount Thursday in Mower County and conclude the counting of the ballots Friday in Freeborn County.

The recount was ordered after the razor-thin margin of victory by DFL candidate Dan Sparks, of Austin. Election results, which will be certified Tuesday, are expected to show Sparks edged Republican incumbent Grace Schwab, of Albert Lea, by less than three dozen votes out of nearly 33,000 total votes cast in the race.

However, the recount can't start until the election results are certified, Veriede said.

The latest tally, according to the Secretary of State's Web site, shows Sparks with 15,020 votes (45.55 percent) and Schwab with 14,987 votes (45.45 percent). Independence party candidate Terry Kelley received 2,950 votes (8.95 percent) and write-in candidate Jennifer Ney received zero votes.

Dan Fields can be reached at 434-2230 or by e-mail at dan.fields@austindailyherald.com