Capitol View: November 30, 2010 Archive

Dayton headed to DC for DGA Meeting

Posted at 12:15 PM on November 30, 2010 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: Minnesota Governor, Recount 2010

Democrat Mark Dayton is headed to Washington D.C. today to attend the Democratic Governors Association's Winter Meeting and Holiday Party. Dayton is making the trip even though he hasn't been declared the winner in Minnesota's race for governor. Dayton currently leads Republican Tom Emmer by nearly 8,800 votes.

Dayton's spokeswoman says Dayton will be in Washington D.C. on Tuesday and Wednesday. He will fly back to Minnesota on Wednesday evening.

Update: Here's an updated quote from Dayton (via release):

"Although Minnesota's election has not yet been decided, I am still delighted to be invited to meet with Governors from around the country to learn about their initiatives in their respective states. Although the recount is still underway in Minnesota, I am working with my Transition staff to prepare a new administration. If, at the end of the recount, my election is certified and I am elected Governor, I will be ready to lead on January 3rd. Attending the DGA's Annual Meeting provides a worthwhile opportunity to share ideas and learn from other Governors what we can do in Minnesota to put people back to work and balance the state budget in a fair and responsible way."

Recount in Ramsey "regular"

Posted at 6:09 PM on November 30, 2010 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: Minnesota Governor, Recount 2010

From MPR's Madeleine Baran:

In Ramsey County, the second day of the recount ended with 67 new ballot challenges, including 56 from Emmer's campaign and 11 from Dayton's.

Some had predicted a flurry of new challenges from Emmer's team, driven by Ramsey County Election Manager Joe Mansky's decision not to deem any challenges frivolous. Mansky said Monday that he will send every challenged ballot to the State Canvassing Board.

Instead, the number of ballot challenges was up only slightly over Monday's figures.

"Maybe the only unusual thing about today was how normal it was and how regular the process was," Mansky said, speaking after the recount ended Tuesday.

Monday's recount in Ramsey County yielded 48 ballot challenges from Emmer's team and 7 from Dayton's. Mansky attributed some of Tuesday's slight increase to an earlier start time. Ramsey County started at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, a half hour earlier than Monday, and was able to count about 1,000 more ballots as a result, he said.

He expects the county will finish its recount on Friday.

Emmer team ramps up ballot battle in Hennepin County

Posted at 6:16 PM on November 30, 2010 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: Minnesota Governor, Recount 2010

Hennepin County Elections Manager Rachel Smith says Republican Tom Emmer's campaign has challenged 927 ballots in her county during the first two days of the recount. She says 894 of those ballot challenges were deemed frivolous.

Smith says Democrat Mark Dayton's campaign lodged 25 challenges - 13 of which were deemed frivolous.

Smith says Emmer's campaign made 103 challenges to ballots in a precinct in Dinkytown neighborhood in Minneapolis. She said every challenge in that precinct was considered frivolous and she wonders why Emmer's team is mounting as many challenges as they are.

"These are legitimately marked ballots," Smith said of ballots cast for Dayton. "These are ballots that there is a filled in oval. There is nothing there."

Smith says each ballot challenge is slowing the process of the recount down whether the challenges are deemed frivolous or legitimate. She said she asked an attorney for Emmer's campaign to withdraw or review some of the challenges but she said he refused.

Emmer campaign attorney Tony Trimble defended the campaign tactic.

"Our strategy is to challenge ballots and challenge as many as we can if, in the eye of the challenger, there's a question about the voter intent, pure and simple. So if there's more today than yesterday, that's a coincidence. Tomorrow there may be more tomorrow than today even."

Smith says they will finish the recount by Monday no matter what.

Recount Day 2: Dayton loses 37 votes

Posted at 8:17 PM on November 30, 2010 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: Minnesota Governor, Recount 2010

With nearly 70 percent of the ballots recount in Minnesota's race for governor, Democrat Mark Dayton has lost 37 votes to Republican Tom Emmer. But Emmer's campaign has challenged more than four time the number of ballots challenged by Dayton's team.

The results, released by the Secretary of State, show that Emmer lost one vote when comparing the results to Election Night. Dayton lost 38 votes.

Emmer's campaign challenged 597 ballots. Dayton's team challenged 143 ballots.

Election Night totals show Dayton with a lead of 8,770 votes over Emmer.