Now-certified election results in Minnesota’s Republican governor primary face a set of challenges from the ticket of Mike Lindell.
Lindell said Wednesday he would pay for a “hand recount and audit” of primary ballots and his running mate has filed a Minnesota Supreme Court petition alleging problems with voting and tabulation systems.
In a written statement announcing the recount bid, Lindell said “Even if this recount and audit does not overturn my election for governor of Minnesota, I believe this is the gateway to getting rid of these electronic voting machines.”
It’s unclear if Lindell will actually force a recount.
Secretary of State Steve Simon’s office said while it fielded a preliminary inquiry had not yet received an official request for the discretionary recount. In correspondence with Lindell’s campaign on Tuesday, Simon’s office shared a cost estimate: $825,000.
“In order to proceed with a discretionary recount, an official request for the recount, along with a bond, cash, or surety for the full estimated cost of the recount noted above, must be received by the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State no later than Monday, August 24,” the letter from Simon’s general counsel Lauren Bethke said.
The state Canvassing Board — made up of judges and the top election official — certified tallies on Tuesday that officially made Lisa Demuth the GOP nominee for governor in a race against DFL nominee Amy Klobuchar. Lindell fell well short of Demuth in the race, trailing her by more than 45,000 votes.
Lindell said he wants a recount that includes designated observers and that reconciles vote totals with the number of voters who participated in the primary. Without many details, he suggested irregularities.
Lindell, the MyPillow founder, gained political prominence as an unflinching ally of President Donald Trump. He was a vocal advocate for Trump’s 2020 stolen election theories that many courts and experts rejected. Lindell was sued by voting machine companies over his suggestions of irregularities; some of that litigation is still pending.
On Monday, Lindell’s lieutenant governor pick Phillip Parrish filed an “errors, omissions and wrongful acts” petition with the Minnesota Supreme Court.
The filing alleges that some counties used voting systems that weren’t properly certified and that paper ballots should have been counted instead of the electronically tabulated figures. It attributes some of the concerns to an Anoka County commissioner who spoke out ahead of the primary about equipment in that county.
The Parrish petition attempted to head off final certification until state elections officials supplied more materials about the voting systems used in the primary, including “modems and other components” as well as “results-file transmission logs.”
The canvassing board met as scheduled and certified the results. The high court’s case schedule allows for briefs and other materials in the case to be filed through Thursday.
Chief Justice Natalie Hudson’s scheduling order says that Parrish did “not include any affidavits or supporting documentation” for the claims of errors.
On Wednesday, former Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz was appointed as an acting justice to hear the case. Two other justices who sit on the Canvassing Board this cycle have been recused. So has another justice.
