The Secretary of State rescheduled the State Canvassing Board meeting that will determine the result of three recounts, including the Senate District 27 race between Sen. Grace Schwab, R-Albert Lea, and DFL challenger Dan Sparks, to Dec. 10 Tuesday.

The meeting was originally set for Nov. 26, but the delay in a recount in Senate District 12 pushed the meeting date back, according to the department’s spokesman, Kent Kaiser.

The board, consisting of Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, Associate Justices of the Minnesota Supreme Court Helen M. Meyer and Sam Hanson, Second District Court Judge Salvador M. Rosas and Fourth District Court Judge Heidi S. Schellhas, will examine 32 contested ballots and discuss the 17 missing ballots uncovered in the recount. Sparks’ initial 33-vote lead has been narrowed to only three after the recount.

In the meeting, Bert Black, who administrated the District 27 recount process in Fillmore, Mower and Freeborn counties, will make a report. Attorneys for both candidates will also be heard by the board.

Both parties would have a seven-day period to contest the results if the board certifies them. Kaiser said there would likely be a special election if the board declined to endorse the recount, which is possible if the margin of victory doesn’t exceed a 17-vote margin that could cancel out the missing ballots.

Meanwhile, election judges in Austin’s 1st Precinct of the 2nd Ward have been granted immunity in the inadvertent destruction of the 17 missing ballots said Leslie Sandberg, press secretary for the Attorney General.

&uot;We don’t see any criminal activity,&uot; Sandberg said. &uot;The destruction of the ballots was inadvertent, but unfortunate.&uot;

Austin City Clerk Lucy Johnson did not identify the election judges who worked Nov. 5 in the 1st Precinct of the 2nd Ward.

She said their names are public, but said she was &uot;not at liberty&uot; to give out their names.

Sandberg said the election judges have been cooperating with authorities in the investigation.

On Nov. 5 Johnson told one of the election judges to &uot;get rid of them,&uot; meaning for the judge to temporarily disregard the votes for Sen. Paul Wellstone on those ballots, said Brian Rice, Sparks’ attorney.

The judge took those 17 ballots out of city hall that night, Rice said.

&uot;I really don’t understand what happened or how that intent came across,&uot; Johnson said of the destroyed ballots.

Rice said because the 17 ballots contained Wellstone votes, it’s is likely those voters chose Sparks. In the recount in that precinct, Sparks lost eight votes. Schwab’s attorney, Frederic Knaak, said while losing votes in a recount is rare, it happens. He also said there is no way of knowing who the voters chose because the ballots have been destroyed. Just because they voted for Wellstone does not mean they voted for Sparks, he said.

Schwab and Sparks gained votes in all other Austin precincts.