Minnesota election officials say Lindell recount request too late, warn of ballot delays
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Minnesota's Secretary of State's Office warns that it's too late to start a recount of the governor's race primary and complete it before ballots need to be prepared for the general election.
A filing Wednesday with the state Supreme Court seeks dismissal of Republican candidate Mike Lindell's bid for a hand recount.
Lindell failed to formally request and pay for a recount by a Monday deadline. He went to the high court to seek a more-expansive recount than a state-approved plan. He objected to the structure in which only votes for him and Lisa Demuth would be counted by name and all others would be combined in a third pile.
Lindell lost the GOP primary to Demuth, the Minnesota House speaker, by 45,000 votes. She faces DFL nominee Amy Klobuchar, a U.S. senator, and the Green Party’s Steven Young for the open office.
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The brief on behalf of the Secretary of State’s Office and the Canvassing Board said the ballot printing process begins Sept. 3 for early voting that starts on Sept. 18.
If the court grants Lindell what he wants, the recount might not start immediately because new procedures would need to be finalized and new cost estimates would be required, the state argues.
“Lindell’s petition threatens to delay the ballot printing process to the degree that counties may not be able to begin absentee voting by the legally required deadline,” state attorneys wrote.
Lindell was informed he had to request and pay $825,000 for the recount prior to midnight Monday. He withheld payment as he sought a broader recount, alleging without much documentation that there were anomalies in the Aug. 11 primary count.
