Minnesota Independent » Lizard People

Center for Public Integrity salutes MnIndy parent and The UpTake

Paul Schmelzer — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:01:02 +0000

The Washington, D.C.–based Center for Public Integrity salutes MnIndy’s parent nonprofit, the Center for Independent Media, and the Minneapolis-based citizen videoblogging outlet The UpTake in its “Top 10 Website of 2008″ list today. Citing media “from projects to blogs to websites that help keep our country transparent,” the investigative journalism organization named the entire six-site CIM network, but specifically applauded our sister site in Michigan: “Their reporting on plans for vote suppression in Michigan (via the Michigan Messenger) kicked up controversy, but they’re doing a good job of sticking on stories that other outlets might ignore.” The UpTake gets props for keeping “political junkies across the world abreast of every minute of the five-person Minnesota recount committee’s deliberations about Franken, Coleman, and Lizard People.”

Not breaking: Strib wants help finding ‘Lizard People’ voter

Paul Schmelzer — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 14:50:51 +0000

While the rest of are just about Lizard Peopled out, the Star Tribune seems to be just gearing up to cover the infamous Beltrami County ballot. Chuck Tomlinson points out a December 18 “reader query” by Strib politics team lead, D.J. Tice, asking, “Did you cast write-in votes for ‘Lizard People.’” Bemidji’s Lucas Davenport, of course, cast the vote, a fact that was first reported by MPR nearly a month ago — because Davenport contacted the news outlet. (To be fair, the paper’s Ballot Tracker is a hugely useful tool, and one that sites with teensy budgets could easily replicate.)

The Strib’s reader query is no longer available on the site, but Chuck got a screengrab:

From ‘Nickel Bag’ to ‘Whinehouse’: Election ’08 write-ins

Paul Schmelzer — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 22:26:18 +0000

I spent the afternoon clicking through the Star Tribune’s excellent database of challenged ballots in search of the ballot Sen. Norm Coleman’s campaign reportedly questioned because the voter penned in a note of gratitude: “Thank you for counting my vote!” I still haven’t found it, but I did find, along with old favorites like write-in candidates Flying Spaghetti Monster and Lizard People, an array of others oddities, including write-ins for “Amy Whinehouse,” “Hitler,” “Tiny Tim” and a hairy bodily orifice I won’t mention til after the jump.

One spelling-challenged voter from Blue Earth went mostly with Democrats, but added in a few write-ins for down-ballot races, from “Snake River Peace” for Soil and Water supervisor to “O.J. Simson,” “Amy Whinehouse,” “Hitler,” “A Hairy Asshole” and, in an apparent reference to TV’s “Judge Judy” Scheindlin, “Judy Shinlun.”

A Farmington voter also showed up to support Democrats like Barack Obama, Al Franken and House District 36B DFLer Bev Topp, but seemed to break from party affiliation supporting each of The Three Stooges, as well as Farmington mayoral contender, “Nickel Bag,” in other races.

This ballot from Lake Edward showed an official vote for Dean Barkley, later x’d out to show support for write-in candidate Norm Coleman.

Already noted by the media, here’s a Fridley voter who turned the entire ballot into an electoral poem of sorts (pdf). A diatribe about campaign advertising, it concludes, “If I get beat down with political ads… I’d rather have Nick D. Pab for president. Ha ha ha ha.” Curiously, the voter turned out on the busiest election day ever, but cast no votes for actual candidates. A detail:

A St. Louis Park voter seemed confused about his or her Soil and Water pick, jotting the note “both either or else no one.”

There could be a candidate named “Don Johnson,” but I’d prefer to think the “Miami Vice” star merited this write-in:

Here’s a vote for Al Franken that seems to use the lesser-of-evils logic: “Just because he is on democratic ticket.”

“Me” gets the nod over Mark Uglem for Champlin mayor:

And finally a voter who really likes Sen. Coleman. Or really doesn’t.

More ridiculous than Lizard People: Coleman challenged “Thank you for counting my vote” vote

Paul Schmelzer — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:23:15 +0000

Flying Spaghetti Monster and Lizard People got the big press at yesterday’s State Canvassing Board’s review of challenged ballots in Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race, but another challenge by Coleman shows how the incumbent has, in the words of TPM’s Eric Kleefeld, “puffed up his apparent lead” with “brazenly frivolous attempts to get votes for Al Franken thrown out.” He cites a truly cringeworthy Coleman challenge, one that earned the story a spot in today’s Washington Post Blunder Box and a post on Boing Boing, the world’s top blog. Coleman sought to nix a Franken vote because one voter had written on his or her ballot:

Thank you for counting my vote!

I guess desperate times call for desperate measures: Coleman leads by just two votes and now Franken is projected to win.

Flying Spaghetti Monster makes Minnesota recount appearance

Paul Schmelzer — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:44:52 +0000

The UpTake, live streaming Thursday’s Minnesota State Canvassing Board meeting on the U.S. Senate recount, featured a ballot cast for the candidate, Flying Spaghetti Monster . The Coleman campaign challenged the ballot because FSM was written in for Soil and Water Conservation Supervisor, although the oval beside Franken’s name was clearly filled in; the vote went to Franken. Moments earlier, the board reviewed the infamous vote cast for Lizard People. Minnesota’s most famous ballot was designated an overvote.

Download the FSM ballot here (pdf).

Lizard People: A meme born in a Minnesota voting booth

Paul Schmelzer — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:37:07 +0000

MPR’s “Challenged Ballots: You be the judge” post has got to be the site’s top traffic generator ever. I’ve seen it linked locally and nationally, on buttoned-up news sites and Comedy Central’s Indecision ’08. That last one, which references the infamous contested write-in vote for “Lizard People” (destined to be our “Hanging Chad of Aught Eight”), ends with a few salient questions:

Should the county have accepted the Franken vote? Does the voter consider Al Franken equivalent to the Lizard People? Is Lizard People a collective, or just one person like Cat Power? If elected, will the Lizard People rule benignly or will they control us with their forked-tongue tyranny?

Currently MPR is the top hit on a Google search for the term “Lizard People” (followed by “The Best Conspiracy Theories (Lizard-People Are Running the World!“). Whoever these reptilian-Americans are, MPR, Al Franken and Norm Coleman really put them on the map. In fact, according to Google Trends, they weren’t anywhere at all up til now.