
The campaign of Minnesota Democratic gubernatorial nominee Mark Dayton just held a press conference, claiming that his lead in the recount has now grown by 205 votes, as of earlier this afternoon.
Going into the recount this week, Dayton led Republican nominee Tom Emmer by 8,770 votes, or 0.42%. While this is within the 0.5% needed to trigger a statewide recount, many observers have doubted that Emmer could pull ahead, as Dayton's lead is probably too wide to be reversed barring any surprising discoveries in the hand count. However, a possible drawn-out legal contest could potentially result in Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty staying in office in the interim, with the opportunity to work with a newly elected Republican legislature.
At the press conference, Dayton recount director Ken Martin said that in the precincts that have been recounted thus far -- representing a bit over half of the total votes -- Dayton has gained 271 votes, to Emmer gaining 66 votes, for a net Dayton gain of 205, and a current lead of 8,975.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The campaign of Minnesota Democratic gubernatorial nominee Mark Dayton has just made an announcement on the first day of the recount so far, telling a press conference that they have expanded their lead over Republican Tom Emmer, according to their calculations.
Dayton recount director Ken Martin said that with 21% of the total ballots now recounted, they estimated that they have gained 88 votes, to Emmer gaining 51 votes, for a total increase in their margin of 37 votes. Dayton went into the recount already ahead by 8,770 votes, out of about 2.1 million total ballots. (Both candidates will probably gain votes in the recount, due to the tendency to discover ballots that were too lightly marked for the optical-scan machines, but are easily recognized by the human eye.)
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The ballot challenges are starting to roll in for the Minnesota gubernatorial recount -- and more of them coming from Republican nominee Tom Emmer's campaign than from Democrat Mark Dayton's, apparently. That said, things still appear to be going smoother than they did in the last statewide recount, from the long and drawn out Senate race in 2008.
The Star-Tribune reports:
According to Hennepin County election manager Rachel Smith, shortly after the recount began the Emmer representatives started filing an increasing number of challenges to would-be Mark Dayton votes that table judges deemed frivolous.PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)
In some precincts "every third or fourth ballot" was challenged by the Emmer camp, Smith said.
...
Dayton lawyer David Lillehaug, asked about reports of frivolous challenges by Emmer representatives, showed a reporter a copy of a ballot from a Minnetonka precinct that an Emmer representative challenged because the oval was not completely filled in. The ovals appeared to almost completely blacked out and the challenge was deemed frivolous.
Minnesota is beginning its gubernatorial recount today -- its second statewide recount in two election cycles, following the even closer and heavily litigated Senate race from 2008.
Democratic nominee Mark Dayton leads Republican Tom Emmer by 8,770 votes, or 0.42%. While this is within the 0.5% needed to trigger a statewide recount, many observers have doubted that Emmer could pull ahead, as Dayton's lead is probably too wide to be reversed barring any surprising discoveries in the hand count. For example, the 2008 Senate recount resulted in a net margin shift of only a few hundred votes between Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken.
However, a possible drawn-out legal contest could potentially result in Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty staying in office in the interim, with the opportunity to work with a newly elected Republican legislature.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The Minnesota State Canvassing Board held a busy meeting this morning, as they begin to make some crucial decisions on how the recount will proceed in the gubernatorial race between Democrat Mark Dayton and Republican Tom Emmer.
With the counties finished proofreading their spreadsheets, as well as routine hand recounts in randomly selected precincts to double-check the accuracy rate of the optical-scan machines, Dayton leads by 8,770 votes, or 0.42%. While this is within the 0.5% needed to trigger a statewide recount, many observers have doubted that Emmer could pull ahead, as Dayton's lead is probably too wide to be reversed barring any surprising discoveries in the hand count. However, a possible drawn-out legal contest could potentially result in Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty staying in office in the interim, with the opportunity to work with a newly elected Republican legislature.
With the State Canvassing Board formally declaring there would be a recount, today's meeting has been dominated by questions of how to conduct it, in light of the lessons learned from the thorough recount from the 2008 Senate race -- and the very thorough six months of extra litigation that followed it, with the result being within just a few hundred votes at the time. And a cast of familiar faces from last time, some of them in different roles this time around, grappled with these new issues.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The Minnesota State Canvassing Board is scheduled to meet at 11 a.m. ET today, to formally declare a recount in the gubernatorial race where Democrat Mark Dayton leads Republican Tom Emmer by less than 9,000 votes. And headed into the meeting, the Dayton campaign sent a letter to the board yesterday evening with an interesting request: Make a slight but significant change to the ballot-challenging process.
It's impossible to know at this juncture whether the board will grant this request -- and perhaps the last-minute nature of the request would lean against such a change. But it does show a clear strategy on the part of Team Dayton: With their candidate's lead being much wider than anything Norm Coleman or Al Franken ever enjoyed in the 2008 Senate recount, they're moving early to try to cut off any possible avenues for Emmer to slow down the process or cast doubt on the margin.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The Minnesota Supreme Court has now ruled against Republican gubernatorial nominee Tom Emmer's effort to force counties to sort through precinct rolls and potentially eliminate votes deemed to be excessively cast -- a move that could have delayed the upcoming recount of the election in which Democrat Mark Dayton is ahead. And in a truly remarkable move, the court issued its ruling only about two hours after today's oral arguments.
As The UpTake reported, the ruling was unusually fast. Key quote:
Based on all the files, records, and proceedings, herein,PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the petition be, and the same is, denied. So as not to impede the orderly election process, this order is issued with opinion to follow.
Petition denied.
The Minnesota gubernatorial race has now seen its first piece of key litigation before the state Supreme Court, with the panel having just heard arguments this afternoon on Republican nominee Tom Emmer's efforts to force counties to potentially remove ballots from the total vote count.
The subject may seem dry, but it could have a real consequence: If the court sides with Emmer, it could potentially delay the recount, which is otherwise supposed to begin on November 29. And what's more, a delay in the recount procedures could have the effect of delaying the seating of a new governor, likely keeping Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty in office in the interim. The State Canvassing Board is scheduled hold a key meeting tomorrow, at which it would order the recount to proceed.
Here is the quick overview: Minnesota law provides for, if a precinct is found to have an excessive number of votes beyond the number of people who are recorded as having voted there, to randomly remove votes from the tallies. The big questions, then, are how to properly determine what the right number is, and whether any true over-voting occurred.
Team Emmer argues that the law can only allow for the people who signed the register to be the proper measurement, while the Secretary of State's rules (which go back to the 1980s) have directed precinct workers to count up the number of separate voter receipts.
No ruling was immediately made. If experience from the last statewide recount is a guide (which is not a guarantee), then a ruling for a pressing recount matter such as this one could potentially occur within the next few days.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The old band is back together in Minnesota. Democratic gubernatorial nominee Mark Dayton last Friday signed up Marc Elias, a top Democratic election attorney who headed up Al Franken's legal team in the 2008 Senate recount and subsequent litigation, to work on the Minnesota Recount Part II fight.
Elias will join Charlie Nauen as co-lead counsel, Dayton spokesperson Denise Cardinal tells us. (Nauen also worked in the Senate recount, on an independent suit by a group of Franken voters whose absentee ballots had been rejected.) Dayton has also brought 2008 veteran attorney Kevin Hamilton on board, who will be rejoining his former legal teammate David Lillehaug in assisting Nauen and Elias.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Ramsey County in Minnesota has responded to Republican Tom Emmer's complaint with the Minnesota Supreme Court that possible "overvoting" occurred in the gubernatorial race. After counting voting receipts, Ramsey County drafted a written response that called the complaint "fundamentally flawed because they rely on a statute that uses obsolete language that is inconsistent with modern election day practices."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Democrat Mark Dayton today called Republican Tom Emmer's attempt to challenge the results of Minnesota's governor's race in court "desperate."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The Republican Party of Minnesota and Tom Emmer's gubernatorial campaign have filed a petition with the state's Supreme Court, alleging that some election judges did not follow the rules when tallying votes. Emmer's argument is that improper record-keeping resulted in extra votes being counted, and he wants the matter addressed before the state's canvassing board certifies the results. But the Minnesota Independent reports that the "vast majority" of the witnesses in the complaint have ties to the Republican Party or the Tea Party movement.
Democrat Mark Dayton leads Emmer by about 8,700 votes, which is close enough to trigger an automatic recount. The canvassing board is scheduled to certify the results on November 23, with a recount slated to begin November 29.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Recount? What recount?
Democrat Mark Dayton is making it clear that he's going to be ready if he is declared the next governor of Minnesota, launching his transition site, daytontransition.org -- recount or no.
The site leads with a welcome message from Dayton and his running mate, Yvonne Prettner Solon, saying that while election officials sort out who the official winner is, "the challenges facing us and our State simply cannot wait."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Republican Tom Emmer and the Minnesota Republicans have filed a petition with the state Supreme Court ahead of an expected recount to make sure that there was no "overvote" in the Minnesota governors race.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The legal filings are already flying around in the impending Minnesota gubernatorial recount, with Republican nominee Tom Emmer and the state GOP filing lawsuits against two counties, St. Louis and Pine, for not satisfying their data requests immediately.
Now just to be clear, this is not the lawsuit you might be thinking of for a Minnesota recount -- known as an election contest, which would come after the recount itself, and potentially delay the swearing-in of the new governor.
Rather, these are complaints that the counties involved have not delivered important election-related data to Team Emmer, such as voting-machine data, poll rosters, the names of poll workers, incident reports, ballot security information, information on absentee ballots, any communications with the campaign of Democratic nominee Mark Dayton, etc., in a timely manner.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Minnesota Republican gubernatorial nominee Tom Emmer is speaking out about the possibility of a legal contest keeping GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty in office past the end of his term. While Emmer is not ruling out a possible contesting of the election, should any issues come up during the recount, he also says in strong terms that he would not be a part of delaying a result for the sake of a GOP power grab.
In a one-on-one interview Thursday with WCCO-AM radio sportscaster Michele Tafoya (who disclosed on the air that she had made a donation to Emmer's campaign), Emmer was asked about the scenario that has been much speculated about in the media -- that the GOP might use a legal proceeding to stall Democratic nominee Mark Dayton from taking office, and allowing Pawlenty to pass legislation with the newly-elected Republican legislature.
"Well anybody who thinks that, that's not gonna be what I'd ever be involved in, Michele," said Emmer. "This is not about what I might want, or somebody else."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The likely recount in the Minnesota gubernatorial race, where Democratic former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton currently leads Republican state Rep. Tom Emmer by slightly under 9,000 votes, has presented an interesting possible scenario: Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a potential presidential candidate, could end up staying in office a little while longer if the election gets tied up in the courts -- and with a newly-elected Republican majority legislature, to boot.
Is it possible that the GOP might try to drag out the recount process to pass Republican-friendly legislation without the threat of a Democratic governor's veto pen? So far, one top Republican, the incoming state House Speaker, has said they wouldn't try to do that -- but they would have to get things done eventually. And the possibility does seem to be hanging over the whole proceeding.
Many observers -- including Fritz Knaak, a former lawyer for Norm Coleman -- have said that it would be very difficult for Emmer to win with the vote numbers like this. But if the process were to drag out, it could result in a Republican governor staying in office longer than expected.
As you might recall from the previous statewide recount in Minnesota, the recent legally contested Senate election from 2008 that resulted in a final 312-vote win by Democrat Al Franken, Minnesota will not certify an election winner in a disputed election until a state legal contest (a kind of civil trial) is concluded. And with the result in that election so close, the recount and subsequent legal processes ended up taking eight months, with Franken not being sworn in until July 2009.
And as we also learned the day after the election, Minnesota's state constitution provides for the current governor, Pawlenty, to stay in office until a successor is determined.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The two candidates in the expected Minnesota gubernatorial recount, Democratic former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton and Republican state Rep. Tom Emmer, have each been assembling the kinds of high-powered legal teams that we should expect for a potential stiff legal fight. And there is quite a bit of history linking them all to the previous statewide recount from just two years ago, in the super-close and controversial Senate race between Al Franken and Norm Coleman.
Dayton currently leads by by slightly less than 9,000 votes, or 0.42%, within the 0.5% threshold that would trigger an automatic recount under state law. However, many observers -- including Fritz Knaak, a former lawyer for Norm Coleman -- have said that it would be very difficult for Emmer to pull out the win. By contrast, the 2008 Senate recount resulted in a net margin shift of only about 500 votes, which was enough to change the winner in a race that was even closer than this one.
But a lot is at stake here. The midterm election also produced a Republican-led legislature, overturning previous Dem majorities, and which governor takes office will have a vast difference on the policies the state adopts. And furthermore, if this were to last into early January then it would result in neither taking office immediately. Instead, Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty would remain in office for the interim.
So let's take a quick look at the current state of the legal teams that have been put together.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)In a further sign that Republican candidate Tom Emmer is going to put up a serious fight in the Minnesota gubernatorial recount, the state GOP has announced the hiring of a very important name for his legal team: Former state Supreme Court Justice Eric Magnuson, who previously served on the state Canvassing Board in the 2008 Senate recount, and will now serve in the role of chief litigator on Team Emmer.
As the Star Tribune notes, Magnuson played a special role within the Canvassing Board itself, keeping detailed notes on the sorts of disputed markings on ballots that the board would encounter, and the "precedents" on how they would count them. (For example, he helped to establish a rule that the state's law against a person signing their ballot would not apply in cases where a person had crossed out a previous choice, then signed the alteration in the manner in which people are accustomed to marking up legal documents.)
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)In another sign that the Minnesota gubernatorial race is far from over, Republican nominee Tom Emmer's legal team has told the Associated Press that he will not be waiving a statewide automatic hand recount:
Attorney Tony Trimble says Emmer has already made up ground to Democrat Mark Dayton from election night totals. Emmer now trails Dayton by more than 8,700 votes, which is close enough for an automatic hand recount.
The state recount law provides for a full hand recount if the margin is within 0.5%, but does give an option for an apparently losing candidate to waive that process and call off the recount. But as we see, Emmer will not be exercising that option.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)If there's a close election in Minnesota...then Fox News is all over it, and going after the Democrats. Check out this amazing interview that Heidi Collins, formerly of CNN and now an anchor on the local Fox station in her native Twin Cities area, did with Democratic Secretary of State Mark Ritchie on Wednesday night. Among the suspicious points she raises against Ritchie regarding the gubernatorial recount is that...his office was prepared for a recount!
In the race to succeed Repubican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Democratic former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton currently leads Republican state Rep. Tom Emmer by slightly under 9,000 votes, a percentage gap of 0.42% out of about 2.1 million votes. Though this figure is within the 0.5% margin that would trigger a mandatory hand recount, past experience from the state's long-running 2008 Senate recount and legal contest -- in which the margins were only ever a few hundred votes out of 2.9 million ballots -- would suggest that the outcome is highly unlikely to switch to the Republicans.
Collins opened the interview by playing a video clip of state GOP chair Tony Sutton blaming Ritchie for the recount, and saying that it should be "a process that's dominated by an ACORN activist who happens to be the Secretary of State."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie's (D) office has released a proposed schedule for the expected gubernatorial recount -- and the state could be cutting it close on this one.
As the Star-Tribune reports, the schedule calls for a State Canvassing Board meeting on November 23, to certify the initial election results and determine the need for any recounts. As of right now, Democratic former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton's lead over Republican state Rep. Tom Emmer is slightly under the 0.5% margin that would trigger a mandatory hand recount.
The recount would then begin on November 29, with a deadline of December 7 for local officials to finish sorting and counting the ballots. The canvassing board would then meet on December 8-10 to sort through any disputed ballots, and then certify the results on December 14.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Both sides are gearing up for a fight in the Minnesota gubernatorial recount -- the state's second consecutive statewide recount in two election cycles -- where Democratic former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton leads Republican state Rep. Tom Emmer by just under 9,000 votes out of over two million.
As the Star Tribune reports, the state Republican Party is quickly working to mobilize its activist base:
The party sent out an e-mail Thursday, asking voters to contact it if they encountered or saw any irregularities at their polling places on Tuesday.PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)
According to the party, such irregularities include voting machine malfunctions, unsecured ballots or voter intimidation.
The morning after the election, state GOP chairman Tony Sutton signaled the party's approach this time, saying "we are not going to get rolled this time."
Here's a quick update on the statewide races that may or may not be seeing recounts, election contests, graphology examinations, Brooks Brothers riots, etc.:
• In the Alaska Senate race, it's not a recount so much as a protracted and unusual vote count -- it could take weeks to sort through the 41% of ballots that were write-in votes, to determine how many them constitute valid, legal votes for incumbent GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowsi against Republican nominee Joe Miller.
• In the Connecticut gubernatorial race, Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz (D) has declared that Democrat Dan Malloy will win the race, without a recount. Republican Tom Foley is not conceding, maintaining that his campaign's internal numbers have them on track for a 2,000-vote win.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The possible gubernatorial recount in Minnesota, where Democratic former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton leads Republican state Rep. Tom Emmer by just over 9,000 votes, has another possible ramification. It is now possible that if the process were to drag on into January, the current GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a potential Republican presidential candidate, could stay on as governor for an extra while.
As you might recall, the legal processes in Minnesota forbid the certifying of an election result until the disputes have truly been resolved in the state courts. In the recount of the 2008 Senate election, this meant that the seating of Democratic Sen. Al Franken was delayed until all the way into July 2009. But while a Senate seat can go vacant and American governance continues, what would happen to the executive branch of the state in case of an election dispute?
As the Star Tribune reports, the relevant language in the state constitution declares: "The term of office for the governor and lieutenant governor is four years and until a successor is chosen and qualified."
This would would appear to mean that Pawlenty would remain in office as the current governor, if a recount and any potential legal issues were to continue -- and Pawlenty has now issued a statement indicating that he would do exactly that.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Here we go again...
It looks like Minnesota could be set for another statewide recount, just two years after the highly contentious Senate race that pitted incumbent Republican Sen. Norm Coleman against Democratic activist and former comedian Al Franken. As we all know, Franken ultimately prevailed by a 312-vote margin, reversing a similarly narrow Coleman lead at the start of the recount -- but not after an extended legal battle that delayed Franken's seating all the way into July of 2009.
As the Star Tribune reports, Democratic former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton now leads Republican state Rep. Tom Emmer by 0.43%, a raw-vote lead of about 9,000, with 20 precincts left to count. This is below a margin of 0.5%, which under state law would trigger an automatic hand recount.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)