Minnesota Independent

GOP owes counties money from recount

By Andy Birkey | 12.13.10 | 9:00 am

The Republican Party of Minnesota still owes counties for a massive document request leading up to the recent election recount, according to the Mankato Free Press. For the past several weeks, more than a dozen counties have been wondering if they’ll get paid for hundred of thousands of documents that were requested by the GOP on behalf of the gubernatorial campaign of Republican Tom Emmer. Those counties were threatened with lawsuits if they didn’t comply with the GOP’s requests for election documents.

Campaign Finance Board rules in favor of RGA and Minnesota’s Future

By Patrick Caldwell | 12.10.10 | 12:04 pm

Minnesota’s Campaign Finance Board issued their finding Thursday for Common Cause’s complaint against Minnesota’s Future and the Republican Governors Association (RGA). The Board’s report — published online Friday afternoon — essentially goes with the principal of ‘no harm, no foul,’ noting that Minnesota’s Future and the RGA may not have strictly complied with Minnesota law initially but that the offense did not merit any fine.

Emmer concedes

By Andy Birkey | 12.08.10 | 11:06 am

“It’s time for us today to be gracious,” said Republican Tom Emmer at a press conference at his Delano home Wednesday morning. “The next governor of Minnesota will be Mark Dayton.”

Tom Emmer drops 2,580 frivolous ballot challenges

By Andy Birkey | 12.06.10 | 8:01 am

Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer withdrew 2,580 ballot challenges over the weekend after the State Canvassing Board gave the go-ahead for the campaigns to evaluate those frivolous ballots. In the end, the Emmer team narrowed the number of frivolous challenges that it will send to the board to just 24. Meanwhile, as the recount process draws to a close, CNN has become the first media outlet to call the race for DFLer Mark Dayton.

Dayton, Emmer, Pawlenty react to budget forecast

By Andy Birkey | 12.03.10 | 11:46 am

Updated budget numbers released by Minnesota officials Thursday show a surplus for the state through the end of the year and a $6 billion deficit for the upcoming two-year biennium. Gov. Tim Pawlenty called on legislators to pass a constitutional amendment that would change the way the state does accounting, while his likely successor, Mark Dayton, said that is was Pawlenty that helped the deficit get that big.

Emmer team: Frivolous challenges could reach 8,700

By Andy Birkey | 12.03.10 | 8:01 am

By Thursday evening, 93 percent of ballots had been counted in the Minnesota gubernatorial recount, but the State Canvassing Board will meet on Friday to deal with thousands of frivolous ballot challenges made by the team of Republican Tom Emmer, whose lawyer said the number could reach 8,700 by 2 pm today. Dayton’s team withdrew all its frivolous challenges and in a letter to the canvassing board chastised Emmer.

Mark Dayton leads Tom Emmer by around 9,000 votes

By Andy Birkey | 12.02.10 | 8:30 am

With DFLer Mark Dayton’s lead in the gubernatorial race hovering around 9,000 votes, Republican Tom Emmer’s campaign has increased its ballot challenges: Emmer’s 2,141 frivolous challenges, which dwarf Dayton’s 39, are now focused on Hennepin County, where election manager Rachel Smith is seeking to change counting procedures that have been slowed by the volume of Emmer’s challenges. The state GOP accused her of taking Dayton’s side in the recount.

Emmer files frivolous challenges in Hennepin County while GOP hints at election lawsuit

By Andy Birkey | 12.01.10 | 9:07 am

The second day of the Minnesota gubernatorial recount focused on two counties, Hennepin and Ramsey, where the bulk of ballots remaining to be counted exist. Hennepin County officials told reporters Tuesday that the campaign of Republican Tom Emmer was engaged in numerous frivolous challenges to ballots. Meanwhile, party chair Tony Sutton says that the Republican Party may press for a court challenge once the recount has concluded.

Gov. Mark Dayton. Photo: Kathy Easthagen, Minnesota Independent

Mark Dayton picks up votes on first day of gubernatorial recount

By Andy Birkey | 11.30.10 | 9:02 am

By the end of the first day of the recount in Minnesota’s gubernatorial race, DFLer Mark Dayton picked up 20 votes while Republican Tom Emmer lost four after less than half of ballots were recounted Monday. The Emmer team launched an aggressive campaign to challenge ballots, although many challenges were rejected as “frivolous” by election officials. The recount was not without humor, though, as some voters made some interesting write-in choices. One voter, for instance, wrote in “Who farted?” for Ramsey County Sheriff — sure to be the recount’s version of the infamous 2008 write-in candidate “Lizard People.”

Gubernatorial election officially heads to automatic recount

By Patrick Caldwell | 11.24.10 | 8:34 am

The race between gubernatorial candidates Democrat Mark Dayton and Republican Tom Emmer is officially headed to a recount after the State Canvassing Board met Tuesday to certify election results, as expected since election night. Emmer did not make headway in overcoming Dayton’s lead in the final pre-recount tally, but Tuesday’s board meeting indicated that legalese could drag out the process of certifying the winner of the election.