Prompted by Al Franken's squeeky-tight recount victory over Norm Coleman in last year's U.S. Senate race, KSTP-TV requested access to all of Ramsey County's rejected and unopened absentee ballots. The county refused the request, the station took the county to court, and on Tuesday it found a friend in Judge Dale Lindman.
Does that mean the election results could be in dispute again? Some of the rejected ballots remain unopened, and what they reveal is anyone's guess at this point. But the news is part and parcel of a seemingly never-ending battle over the disputed legitimacy of Franken's victory.
That didn't take long: We have the final vote tally in the Minneapolis mayoral and city council races from Election Day. Why the wait? Ranked choice voting rules require that the ballots be counted by hand if the original results don't offer a clear winner. The hand-count results then have to be certified by the Minneapolis City Council. That happened this morning.
Political newcomer Eva Ng was soundly defeated 68 percent to 26 percent in her race to unseat incumbent St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman. Now, as she absorbs that loss, she faces another challenge. This time, it comes from former campaign worker Lisa Belak, who alleges financial irregularities and broken laws during the campaign.
On November 6, 2009, Lisa Belak filed a campaign complaint with the Office of Administrative Hearings alleging that Eva Eng and the Treasurer of Eva (sic) for Mayor Campaign Committee violated Minnesota Statutes 211A.02 and 211A.06 by failing to file accurate and complete campaign financial reports relating to Ms. Eng's November 2009 campaign for mayor of the city of St. Paul.
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman both kept their jobs last night, easily winning reelection. Rybak will be starting his third term as he gears up for a gubernatorial run and Coleman starts his second.
Get all of the details on these races, as well as other local elections, below.
If you're the type of person who prefers voting for "Lizard People" or "Mickey Mouse" or yourself when you enter the voting booth on Election Day, one candidate might make your choice a little easier. Because let's face it, if a person is willing to actually "campaign" for mayor under the "Is Awesome" party, they at least deserve a pity 3rd choice vote on the ranked choice ballot. Do it for America.
Joey Lombard, a 22-year-old, is running on his lack of inexperience and his sheer awesomeness. The Star Tribune profiled him awhile back and we have to say we were a little impressed.
Here is what his campaign site says on Election Day on your final decision to vote for him:
Come November 3rd this year, be sure to get out to the polls and vote for Joey as the next mayor of Minneapolis. Unlike other politicians, Joey has no experience and is thus unable to have become corrupted. Furthermore, Joey has a proven record of awesomeness that can be counted on should the city face natural disaster, war, famine, Act of God, or any of a hundred other things that other candiates aren't busy thinking about.
Should Joey be elected this year, he will be sure to express his gratitude by humbly taking office and putting his years of playing Sim City to use. He'll not only improve the city but will do so with a smile.
His expertise comes from Sim City? This guy has to be onto something.
It's Election Day here in Minnesota and that means it's time to get your vote on. This Election Day will likely come and go quietly without much fanfare as the biggest races in the state are the reelections of Minneapolis and St. Paul mayors who are running against candidates will little name recognition and not much funding.
We've collected the information and links you'll need to get to your polling place and prepare for your ballot. Check it all out below.
Katherine Kersten's weekend column in the Star Tribune, suggesting that fraudulent voter registration by embattled community group ACORN might have been responsible for Al Franken's razor-thin election victory last year, has suddenly gone H1N1 after it was linked by high-profile national blogs, including Kausfiles at Slate, Fox Nation, and Gateway Pundit.
We're still on top of the nation when it comes to the percentage of residents casting their ballots on Election Day.
Minnesota and the District of Columbia made the top of the list, with 75 percent voter turnout. The national average is 63.6 percent. The Midwest was also the top region with 66 percent voter turnout.
And which states are the most un-American? Hawaii and Utah with just 52 percent voter turnout.
Nationwide, 131 million cast their ballot in the 2008 presidential election. That's an increase of 5 million from 2004.
If you're still stuck on the Presidential or House elections from 2008, more details on each state's vote breakdown are coming out and painting some interesting pictures of our country's voting patterns and our excitement for racial equality.
So Minnesota as a whole voted for the first black president in the United States. But what does that really mean?
We know, we know. Enough with the Palin clothes stories already. But this one we just couldn't resist. Supposedly all of those clothes from her $75,000 Minneapolis shopping spree are just crammed into trash bags at the Republican headquarters, homeless and wrinkled.
The New Majority is reporting that Palin did return all of the pricey clothes, but that doesn't mean they are being put to good use.
Mayor R.T. Rybak announced today that he will be running for reelection. He announced his bid through a video clip on YouTube and his Web site. Do we have a tech savvy mayor or what?
Rybak was elected as mayor in 2001 and reelected in 2005.
Watch the video below. Be warned that it will bring back creepy memories of terrible '90s public service movies you had to watch in school. If you were in school in the '90s, that is.
The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza published his annual "Best House Campaigns of 2008" list and Minnesota gets a featured spot dedicated to Erik Paulsen who won in 3rd District. He will be taking the seat of retiring Rep. Jim Ramstad.
Why did Paulsen win this coveted honor from the Post? He's a Republican. And he won.
Elizabeth Alexander, a poet published by St. Paul's non-profit Graywolf Press was selected by the President-elect and a slew of committees and advisers to read an original poem at the 44th President's Inauguration in January. Graywolf (Which was the subject of a recent CP feature.), is planning on publishing a book of Alexander's work to mark the occasion. Read the full press release below.
So: last week, lefty blog MN Progressive Project discovered that Elwyn Tinklenberg still has about 500 grand worth of unused funds in his campaign coffers.
But before you accuse the hobbit of squandering the riches that could have unseated the divisive Michele Bachmann (R-Maybe it's Maybelline), consider that it was flooding in faster than he could spend it.
State Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, announced an exploratory campaign for governor in 2010 today. Marty is part of a growing list of prominent Minnesota Democrats to announce a possible run.
This wouldn't be Marty's first run for governor. Marty ran as the DFL candidate for governor in 1994, losing to Republican incumbent Arne Carlson. He's currently serving his seventh-term in the Minnesota Senate.
The 2010 governor race speculation and chatter is so apparent since Election Day you'd think Gov. Tim Pawlenty is already a lame duck. We've still got time to burn with that mullet-loving man before we can even think of ousting him.
MinnPost broke big news this weekend when Eric Black spoke to Rep. Tim Walz who confirmed he will not run for governor. Walz was considered a top pick for the Democratic ticket as a two-term member of Congress who manages to reach strong middle ground in an often Republican-leaning district.
"I'm in the right position to help the people in my district in this critical time," Walz said.
"We were never going to do it."
So who else might run for the spot? A couple other names made news this weekend.
Minnesota Democrats didn't take over Republican held seats in highly contested U.S. districts, but the GOP winners still had a rough year. They won their seats, but that doesn't mean their district stands behind them.
A study of Minnesota election results by Smart Politics found that of the 318 general election U.S. House races conducted in 74 years, 2008 Republicans held the lowest percentage of ballots cast for U.S. House candidates since the Great Depression in 1934. Ouch.
Minneapolis's Joe Plummer says he's enjoying a post-election respite after Republican presidential candidate John McCain made his moniker a household name.
Plummer, a 34-year-old engineer with the Minnesota State Energy Office, was out for the evening with his wife on Oct. 15, the night that John McCain first introduced "Joe the Plumber" to the nation in the third presidential debate. He came home to the blinking light of telephone messages. "Hey, McCain brought you up," one caller said. "Hey, Tom Brokaw said Joe Plumber was the winner of the debate," another teased.
We'd like to believe all humans have good hearts and provide things for others simply because they think it's the best thing to do. But politicians are another breed we can't quite trust.
When former Sen. Mark Dayton heard about a Minneapolis blind woman who had her bag and custom laptop stolen on a Metro Transit bus, he decided to purchase her a new one, according to the Star Tribune.
His ballot has been discarded as an overvote, but Lucas Davenport wanted to make one thing clear: He intended to vote for Al Franken in the race for Senate. So we hope that means Franken isn't a lizard person?
We also hope this means Republicans will jump at the opportunity to say that all Democrats are crazy and don't take their right to vote seriously. Yes, all Democrats believe in lizard people and they don't know how to fill in ovals.
Monday brought more recount-typical stories and a whole bunch of new challenges. Norm Coleman seems to be adding to his lead, but reports are saying that doesn't say much with the amount of challenged ballots yet to be counted.
If Minnesota's Senate recount stretches into January and you are itching for a ticket to President-elect Barack Obama's swearing-in ceremony, Sen. Amy Klobuchar should be on the top of your BFF list. She already should be, in fact, because the longer you wait, the lower you are on her list of potential ticket holders. Hurry up!
The now infamous "Lizard Person" voter looks even more hilarious after the latest development. Minnesota Public Radio didn't chase this voter down. He emailed them and offered to talk about his vote.
Apparently lovers of Lizard People appreciate self-promotion and attention too.
If you remember one contested ballot from the Norm Coleman vs. Al Franken recount, remember the vote for "Lizard People". The ballot made national blogs as the country pointed and laughed at our really smart voters. Now the supposed "Lizard People" voter has come forward, saying the vote was a joke. Hear the explanation in his own words.
The work week ended, but some recounting sites raged on to speed up the process of the Senate recount in the Norm Coleman and Al Franken race. And it gave the local media something to talk about this weekend.
In the latest Star Tribune numbers, Coleman leads with 180 votes. There have been 1,982 challenged votes so far and still much more to come. We hope some of these challenges (like the one with a random line on the back of it) will be dropped before the canvassing board has to analyze the stack.
Greetings! It is I, the Count. You are just in time to count ballots with me. One, one ballot. Two, two, ballots. Ah ah ah! I love it! Isn’t that fun? Wait… this doesn’t look like two ballots.
During a tedious and often too-serious Senate ballot recount, the St. Paul Saints know how to lift spirits. In another smart public relations move, the Saints announced their next must-have souvenir: Count von “Re”Count. The figurine, which resembles a bobblehead, will instead have a spinning head that changes the winner faster than you can count ballots. One side is Al Franken, one side is Sen. Norm Coleman. Getting dizzy yet?
OK, you've had a whole week after the 10-day mark to take down your political campaign signs in your front yard and you still haven't done it. We know because we walk by your house every day and they are still there. The city and state say you should have taken them down Nov. 14, but now you've gone too far. Our plea to you: Please take down your signs and don't waste city money by making them send you a letter.
We know how great you feel when you walk into your home and remind yourself you did vote for the first black president. Or maybe the sign reminds you that you aren't as crazy as the rest of America that drank the Kool aid and voted that guy into office.
Why should you care? And why isn't this violating your freedom of speech? We interviewed Paul Smith, zoning investigator for Minneapolis' Community Planning and Economic Development department to find out.
Earlier today, Norm Coleman's Senate campaign sent out this charming email announcement to reporters about the Fritz Knaak, Coleman's senior counsel for the Senate recount, daily update:
"Knaak, Knaak."
"Who's there?"
"Not Fritz, we're giving the media a break today."
How clever! The campaigns have been holding daily briefings every day on the recount. Al Franken's campaign had a briefing earlier today.
Well, don't get warm and fuzzy for Coleman so quickly.
The challenges from the camps of Norm Coleman and Al Franken are getting more intense, at least in Ramsey County.
The Star Tribune is reporting an increased number of challenges in what was a pretty calm recount site:
There were only 10 challenges Wednesday and Thursday, thanks largely to post-recount mediation sessions both afternoons during which county Elections Manager Joe Mansky and attorneys and volunteers from both campaigns sat down and whittled the challenges down when the voters' intent was clear.
At least we don't have to go back to our polling place to vote. We really do have some things to be thankful for, if you can believe it.
Georgia Democrat Jim Martin is facing off with Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss in a Dec. 2 runoff and President-elect Barack Obama is still dealing with election politics, says the Boston Globe.
The seat is pretty important to the new Obama administration. If Martin wins the seat and Al Franken squeaks away with a win here in Minnesota, the Senate will have a Democratic supermajority.
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