Minnesota Independent

New Kansas SOS thinks Ritchie stole Franken-Coleman recount

By Andy Birkey | 01.03.11 | 11:45 am

In an interview with Stateline, Kansas Secretary of State-elect Kris Kobach said that Minnesota’s Secretary of State Mark Ritchie committed a “heist” in the recount election of Sen. Al Franken. A Republican, Kobach ran on a platform of eliminating voter fraud and was — as Stateline notes — “the intellectual architect of Arizona’s S.B. 1070, the tough-on-illegal-immigrants legislation signed into law in that state last year.” Ritchie, whose work with the bipartisan canvassing board in the Coleman-Franken recount was praised by many, was handily reelected by voters in 2010.

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.

Counties, Dayton and Ritchie file documents refuting Emmer’s claims

By Andy Birkey | 11.21.10 | 1:20 pm

Ramsey, Anoka and Hennepin counties as well as Mark Dayton’s legal team and Secretary of State Mark Ritchie have filed paperwork arguing against the Republican Party of Minnesota’s Supreme Court challenge alleging phantom votes and asking for a reconciliation of voter sign-ins with ballots in all 4,130 precincts in the state. All parties argue that precincts followed procedures that have been in place since 1982.

Fox 9′s Heidi Collins raises eyebrows for ‘insanely hostile’ interview with Mark Ritchie

By Andy Birkey | 11.04.10 | 2:08 pm

Fox 9 News anchor Heidi Collins’ seven-minute interview with Secretary of State Mark Ritchie Wednesday night has drawn fire from media critics for her combative tone. Collins attacked Ritchie for connections to the now-defunct ACORN and appeared to blame him for the close race between gubernatorial candidates Tom Emmer and Mark Dayton.

Mark Ritchie wins a second term as Secretary of State

By Andy Birkey | 11.02.10 | 9:24 pm

Mark Ritchie, who oversaw the contentious recount in the 2008 U.S. Senate race between Sen. Al Franken and former Sen. Norm Coleman, will serve another term as Secretary of State. The Associated Press called the race for Ritchie shortly after 9 p.m. At that time, Ritchie led Republican challenger Dan Severson by a margin of 58 percent to 37 percent, with 15 percent of precincts reporting.

State GOP overheated on voting machine failures?

By Andy Birkey | 11.02.10 | 4:43 pm

The Republican Party of Minnesota criticized Secretary of State Mark Ritchie for “massive” voting machine failures across the state on Tuesday. But reporters around the state investigating the downed machines found the issue to be overheated rhetoric, not overheated machines.

Reports of voter intimidation, voter fraud scarce on election day

By Andy Birkey | 11.02.10 | 3:11 pm

Minnesota media is reporting several instances of overzealous election challengers in polling places as the Republican Party of Minnesota ramps up its allegations of voter fraud. In several Minnesota precincts, reporters confirmed that GOP poll challengers have overstepped their bounds. Meanwhile, the GOP claims that ballot scanners were not working properly in some jurisdictions and that group home assistants have been telling people how to vote.

Dan Severson, Minnesota Independent file photo

Sec. of State candidate Severson: There’s no such thing as separation of church and state

By Andy Birkey | 10.19.10 | 1:17 pm

Republican Secretary of State candidate Dan Severson has been hitting the religious right radio circuit over the past few weeks, doing interviews with headline-making figures like Bradlee Dean of You Can Run But You Cannot Hide and Pastor Brad Brandon of Berean Bible Baptist Church in Hastings. Severson told his interviewers that he believes the constitutional clause calling for the separation of church and state doesn’t exist, and that he feels there was “fraud, in a major way” in the U.S. Senate recount of 2008.

‘We got it right’: Ritchie TV ad touts Supreme Court praise for 2008 Senate recount

By Paul Schmelzer | 10.05.10 | 9:56 am

In advance of Saturday’s League of Women Voters/KSTP debate, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie will begin airing a television ad, his first of the 2010 campaign. It runs down his successes on the job, from increasing voting rates among military personnel by 300 percent to overseeing the recount and election challenge in Minnesota’s 2008 Senate race between Sen. Al Franken and former Sen. Norm Coleman. “We brought integrity and fairness to the closest election in 50 years,” Ritchie says in the ad, “and the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously agreed: We got it right.”

PoliTweeps: A ‘bitter Minnesota,’ a startled deer, an ‘outrageous’ RNC speaker

By Paul Schmelzer | 07.30.10 | 12:34 pm

In today’s survey of Minnesota’s political Twittersphere, conservatives try to stain the Alliance for a Better Minnesota with a spoof Twitter account, a Wellstone Action organizer questions Michele…