While our sources on the impending Minnesota Supreme Court ruling on the U.S. Senate election contest were impeccable, our latest intelligence points to a decision sometime next week. Here’s what we picked up from sources inside the Minnesota Judicial Center: The opinion will be unanimous; the opinion is overly long and is being edited, circulated, re-edited, [...]

While our sources on the impending Minnesota Supreme Court ruling on the U.S. Senate election contest were impeccable, our latest intelligence points to a decision sometime next week. Here’s what we picked up from sources inside the Minnesota Judicial Center: The opinion will be unanimous; the opinion is overly long and is being edited, circulated, re-edited, [...]

Two sources: Supreme Court ruling on U.S. Senate race to arrive tomorrow

5 p.m. update: PIM now hears that

2008…Another Year for the Minnesota History Books

[This story first appeared in the 31 December 2008 edition of the Weekly Report.] One of the reasons we love Minnesota politics is that there’s hardly ever a dull moment (except during those brief dog days of summer in non-election years). But 2008 turned out to be a series of big moments, becoming a year for the history books. Once-in-a-lifetime [...]

Counting Controversy: Time To Trust The ES&S M100 And Diebold AccuVote?

At a press conference on Wednesday, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie said that the state’s voting tabulators don’t really have an established error rate, but Ramsey County Elections Manager Joe Mansky told the Pioneer Press that on their machines, about two of every thousand ballots get miscounted, which would extrapolate to 5,800 votes statewide. digg_url = [...]

Frankly Rich: Franken v. Ritchie

[This story first appeared in the 7 November 2008 PIM Weekly Report.] The outsider ethos that has plagued Al Franken since the inception of his candidacy two years ago now manifests itself in an even uglier fashion: casting doubt on Minnesota’s election process. For 30-year New Yorker Franken, and the non-Minnesota crew who have been with him through a best-selling [...]

The Recount: Breaking News on Mountain Iron Precinct One

At 7:22 p.m. last night, the Secretary of State’s Web site was updated (after working hours) to reflect an additional 100 voters. The precinct reporting was Mountain Iron Precinct One. Every one of those 100 votes was cast for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama…and DFL Senate candidate Al Franken. Mountain Iron is in legislative District 5A. In 2006, 5A voted [...]

A caffeinated wait

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken is waiting on a smattering of election results from around the state at 3:30 a.m. It could be a long wait. Franken’s spokesman Andy Barr offered some goodwill in the form of coffee to the members of the press as he explained that the wait will last until all precincts [...]

Coleman-Franken vote recount to start Nov. 19

Minnesotans who just can’t get enough of elections will get their wish starting Nov. 19, when a state recount of the 2.9 million ballots cast in the U.S. Senate race between Republican incumbent Norm Coleman and DFL challenger Al Franken starts. Mark Ritchie, Minnesota Secretary of State, outlined the ballot recount process for media

Late night count tight as Iron Range vote still out

The vote between Al Franken and Norm Coleman is quite tight right now, but many precincts in the Arrowhead haven’t reported yet. It looks like there might more than a thousand net votes for Franken in St. Louis, Itasca and Carlton counties. St. Louis County is at 24,331 to 38,920 with 43 precincts that haven’t [...]