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With an insider’s eye, Hot Dish tracks the tastiest bits of Minnesota’s political scene and keep you up-to-date on those elected to serve you.

Contributors in Minnesota: Jennifer Brooks, Baird Helgeson, Mike Kaszuba, Patricia Lopez, Jim Ragsdale, Brad Schrade and Rachel E. Stassen-Berger. Contributors in D.C.: Kevin Diaz and Corey Mitchell.

Posts about Minnesota campaigns

Franson wins House District 8B recount by 12 votes

Posted by: Jennifer Brooks Updated: November 29, 2012 - 3:36 PM

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The recount is over in House District 8B, leaving state Rep. Mary Franson with a 12-vote lead over her Democratic challenger Bob Cunniff.

Franson, a freshman Republican from Alexandria, picked up one extra vote Thursday when Otter Tail County recounted its ballots. In the end, Franson had 4,799 votes in Otter Tail to Cunniff's 3,790 votes.

Cunniff's attorneys are challenging four of the ballots in Otter Tail County, and the campaigns also challenged one vote each in Douglas. But the combined challenges wouldn't be enough to hand Cunniff the win in the state's closest election of 2012.

Franson led by 11 votes Wednesday, after her home county of Douglas wrapped up its recount. She won by the election by a single vote, but picked up 10 more after a court ordered Douglas County to discard dozens of ballots after a polling place error.

The recount results are unofficial until the state canvassing board meets on Dec. 4 at 1:30 p.m. There is also always a possiblity of a court challenge to the election results.

 

 

 

 

 

Judge orders 35 ballots removed before 8B recount

Posted by: Jennifer Brooks Updated: November 20, 2012 - 4:26 PM

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A Douglas County court has ordered election officials to discard 35 ballots before they begin their recount of a state House race that is hanging by a single vote.

There were "obvious errors" at three voting wards in Alexandria that led to residents of a neighboring legislative district  apparently getting ballots for the House race in District 8B, district court Judge David Battey concluded Tuesday. State Rep. Mary Franson, R-Alexandria, ended up winning that election by a single vote over Democratic challenger Bob Cunniff.

All the ballot mix-ups were discovered in precincts split between House districts 8B and neighboring 12B.

"While the remedy in this situation may not be the ideal situation to the problem, the Court notes that it has limited options," Battey wrote. "Although it can reasonably be argued that the discrepancy in votes resulted from errors in the administration of the election or the distribution of ballots, the Court finds that the discrepancy ultimately resulted in counting and recording errors."

The solution, under Minnesota statute, will be to discard 35 random ballots to compensate for the 35 that were cast in error. Franson's attorneys were pushing for the ballots to be discarded. Cuniff's attorneys decried "the disenfranchisement of dozens of voters" and argued that the errors in this case should not trigger the removal of ballots.

The recount is likely to begin Nov. 28 and run for several days.

 
8B order

Cunniff Brief

Record number of votes cast in Minnesota on Tuesday

Posted by: Jim Ragsdale Updated: November 7, 2012 - 3:09 PM

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Minnesotans voted in record numbers on Tuesday, the Secretary of State's office said.

The number of voters casting a ballot in the presidential race was 2,938,947. In the last presidential election, 2,921,147 voters cast ballots in the presidential race.

This is based on 99.93 percent of precincts reporting, and will increase slightly, Ritchie's office said.

While the raw number of voters is the highest ever, the 76 percent turnout -- based on the number of eligible voters -- is not the highest. The number of eligible voters has increased by 135,238 since 2008, Ritchie's office said.

 
 

Close legislative races head to a recount

Posted by: Jennifer Brooks Updated: November 7, 2012 - 3:08 PM

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For anyone who's ever wondered if their vote really matters, look no farther than state Rep. Mary Franson's razor's edge win over Democratic challenger Bob Cuniff Tuesday night.

A single vote separates the two, triggering an automatic recount after the state canvassing board meets on Nov. 27. 

The board will also be conducting a recount in Senate District 20, where Democrat Kevin Dahle eked out an 82-vote win over Republican Michael Dudley in the open Northfield-area seat. State election law triggers an automatic recount in races that are decided by less than one-half of 1 percent of the vote.

"This race is not over," Cuniff tweeted to supporters in the early hours of Wednesday. "Thanks for your support and prayers."

A one-vote victory is still "absolutely" a victory, an exhausted Franson noted Wednesday. As for the close race, she said she and Cuniff are neighbors, competing for the votes of people they both know. Franson, a freshman who attracted headlines and criticism for some of her controversial statements, also said state Democratic party had targeted her district with outside money and negative ads.

In the end, she said, "people know where I stand on the issues. They may not agree with, but they know my values and beliefs," she said.

If she wins the recount, Franson's second term in the Legislature will be very different than her first.

"That's something I'm still trying to wrap my head around," she said.

The canvassing board will meet at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 27 to set a location for the legislative recounts. The recount should be completed within the next several days.

"Minnesotans are anxious to know who will represent them, but they also want to be sure that all ballots are properly counted," Secretary  of State Mark Ritchie said in a statement Wednesday. "This office, working together with our county partners and the candidates, will complete any recounts as quickly as possible after the canvassing board determines a recount is required with complete accuracy and transparency."

 

Line 3 blocks long at Sibley Park

Posted by: Paul Walsh Updated: November 6, 2012 - 9:29 AM

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Several hundred people were in line this morning at the Sibley Park voting station in south Minneapolis.

They covered three sides of a city block.

An election official, binder in hand, walked the line and checked to make sure folks were at their correct voting location, because polling locations for many voters in the area had changed because of redistricting.

inside the StarTribune