Fair Vote Minnesota holds a political reform salon at the home of Barbara Forster and Larry Hendrickson in Minneapolis. David Durenberger, George Latimer and Tom Horner will speak about fixing Minnesota’s broken electoral system.
Last year The UpTake captioned a seemingly endless number of Gubernatorial debates so the deaf and hard of hearing could be better informed. Wednesday, the Commission of the Deaf, DeafBlind and Hard of Hearing Minnesotans honored The UpTake with it’s Accessible News Outlet Media Excellence Award. UpTake Executive Producer Mike McIntee, who is a long-time Eagan resident, accepted the award and credited his hard-of-hearing step-father with inspiring him and The UpTake’s volunteers to put in hundreds of hours of work to transcribe and caption the debates.
The Scott County Canvassing Board met at the Scott County (Minnesota) Government Center today to certify the results of last week’s gubernatorial election as reported by the precincts. The results were certified and three precincts were drawn for hand counts and audits. This is the normal procedure following an election and has nothing to do with the nature of this tight election, except that this action has to precede any other action such as a recount. Scott County has 73,016 registered voters: 47,991 of them voted in last week’s election. The vote count for the possible recount race was as follows:
Republican Tom Emmer, 26,805
Democrat Mark Dayton, 14,455
Independent Tom Horner, 6,091
County election supervisor Mary Kay Kes conducted the meeting. The board members present were county commissioners Tom Wolf and Barbara Marshall, court administrator Greg Ess, auditor/treasurer Cindy Geis and Savage Mayor Janet Williams. Savage is the largest city in the county.
Mark Dayton (DFL) holds a news conference to discuss the election results. With most of the votes counted he holds less than a one percentage point lead over his Republican opponent Tom Emmer.
Dayton said he didn’t want any potential recount politicized and wanted to make sure that the election results are counted completely and according to law.
What do Minnesotans fear more than the avalanche of negative ads leading up to an election? A recount of that election. If less than one-half of one-percent of the votes for Governor separate Mark Dayton from Tom Emmer, Minnesotans will see another statewide recount. An automatic recount is triggered when the race is that close unless the losing candidate waives the right to a recount.
As of 4 AM, unofficial results showed Democrat Mark Dayton ahead of Republican Tom Emmer on the hairy edge of that one-half of one-percent margin with 99 percent of the vote counted. The race would need to be closer than 10, 499 votes out of 2,09,825 cast. Dayton is leading Emmer by 9,324. Unless Dayton can widen his lead by about 1,175 votes, an automatic recount will be triggered.
If the final official count shows Dayton winning by .5% or more, there still could be a recount if Emmer and the Republican Party are willing to pay for one.
There’s a third option as well. A “test” recount. Emmer could ask that up to three precincts be recounted, pay for those recounts and then decide whether to go ahead with a statewide recount.
Minnesota’s last statewide recount between Senator Al Franken and now former Senator Norm Coleman lasted about two months and then was followed by an election contest trial that dragged on for another six months.
Either candidate could file an election contest lawsuit within five days of the canvassing board certifying the results. The State Canvassing Board is scheduled to meet on Tuesday November 23rd and declare a result no later than three days after completing the canvass.
Just after 2 AM, the DFL turned the lights out and sent the party home, hopeful but not positive that Mark Dayton was going to be the next Governor of Minnesota. Dayton had about a 15,000 vote lead over Republican Tom Emmer with 94% of the vote counted. Independent Party Tom Horner conceded early in the evening, drawing only 12% of the vote. Dayton told the crowd at the DFL victory party that he was “cautiously optimistic” about winning since the trends were going his way. Shortly after Dayton addressed the crowd, DFL party Chair Brian Melendez told them to go home.
Tom Emmer addresses the anticipatory throng late in the night (or early morning) at the GOP party on election night 2010, at the Bloomington Sheraton.
Independence Party candidate for Governor Tom Horner calls it a night after seeing his vote totals peak at 12 percent. Democrat Mark Dayton maintains about a 8,900 vote lead over Republican Tom Emmer and the race appears to be headed for a recount.
Following many months of political campaigning, debates, advertisements on television and billboards, and the most expensive midterm election season in U.S. history, Election Day 2010 is upon us, at last. The UpTake team will be on the ground all day, and into the night, bringing you firsthand accounts and perspectives from around the Twin Cities of voters — and non-voters — and god forbid, any voting booth problems or voter intimidation campaigns. Since we’re a citizen journalism organization, help us out. If you see or hear of voting irregularities or efforts to intimidate voters, call us right away at (651) 344-0167 or email info@theuptake.org. Tell us the who, what, where and when.
After the polls close tonight, we’ll bring you live coverage from the victory (and defeat) parties of DFL’er Mark Dayton, Republican Tom Emmer, and Independent Tom Horner. We’ll also be in Duluth to cover the waning hours of the fingernail-biting 8th Congressional District race, where veteran Congressman Jim Oberstar is trying to eek out a victory over Republican challenger Chip Cravaack. We’ll have as many as four livestream channels running at once, perhaps late into the night, if the Democratic stronghold of St. Louis County delivers its tallies tardy, as expected.
We’ll also keep you abreast of election results nationwide, whether the Democrats have a chance of holding onto the House of Representatives and whether Harry Reid and a handful of other veteran Senators live to legislate another term.
First the press, and now others are noticing Republican candidate for Governor Tom Emmer won’t answer on abortion.
The first clip is from Almanac on October 29, 2010, Cathy Wurzer gives him three chances and reminds him he sponsored five antiabortion bills last session.
At 1:30 Minnesota Public Radio’s Gary Eichten asks Emmer pretty much the same questions at the Fitzgerald Theater debate on 10/31/10.
At 3:00, after the Fitzerald debate, I talked to an Emmer supporter on the left, and a Horner supporter on the right. They both said he didn’t answer the question. Representative Tom Emmer doesn’t think this election is about abortion, he thinks it’s about jobs and the economy. But for some people, it is.
Senator Al Franken announces the “Understanding The True Cost Of College Act” that would require colleges to use easier to understand language in their financial aid package offers to students.
Hindia Ali, Youth Leadership Development Coordinator at Somali Action Alliance is a delegate the the 2012 National Democratic Convention, the first Somali-American to be a delegate.
Speaking to the press on Tuesday, President Obama ripped into Republicans for their lack of compromising and for the first time mentioned his likely Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, by name.
Minnesota women in healthcare predicaments met with with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Sen. Al Franken, Rep. Betty McCollum and Governor Mark Dayton on Friday — the two year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act.
President Obama says many of the factors that are driving up gas prices are out of our control such as unrest in the Middle East. However, he points out there are some things that are in our control such as fraud and manipulation that can cause prices to spike even further.
President Obama talks about an all-of-the-above American energy strategy at a Daimler manufacturing plant in North Carolina that’s making trucks that run on natural gas.
Senator Al Franken is used to close elections. This time he didn’t beat his opponents, but had to settle for a tie with Representative Chip Cravaack in the second annual Minnesota Congressional delegation hotdish cookoff.
President Obama would like to reform taxes so we reward companies that invest in the US, not ones that send jobs overseas. But there are some barriers, such as Congress.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu uses his photo op with President Obama today to talk up how the US and Israel are united against Iran, which is suspected of trying to create a nuclear bomb.
President Obama warns that “loose talk” of war was only helping Iran, while pushing back against charges from GOP presidential contenders that he has been less than a loyal ally to Israel.
One year after the tornado that ravaged North Minneapolis, things are looking up for Anthony and Shemeika Strong. The absence of the Broadway Liquor Outlet has also been a blessing for their neighborhood.
Occupy coalesced activists from many neighborhood and civic groups to protest bank actions: Home foreclosures, refusing Somali funds transfer, voter photo ID, anti-immigrant actions.
Members of the Welfare Rights Committee disrupt the signing of the Vikings Stadium Bill. They claim, “Vikings Got Bailed Out, We Got Sold Out!”
Somali women and men gather to discuss the many aspects of female infertility with medical and social experts.
3M shareholders at annual meeting were asked to stop all corporate contributions to political campaigns and to disclose corporate political lobbying efforts. As expected, the resolutions were voted down, but the activists pledged to continue efforts.
Occupy backed homeowner successfully re-negotiated her loan with MN based US Bank.
After the six-week US-Dakota War of 1862, 38 Dakota men were hung in one of the largest mass executions in US History. Many argue that the trials were a sham, that is was the largest injustice in the nation’s history. Today, Representative Dean Urdahl, Chair of the Legacy Committee in Minnesota and the Civil War Task Force, seeks to, “rub a little salve in the wound,” by seeking a pardon for one of those warriors who was hung on that fateful December day. His name is Chaska.
Rep. Ryan Winkler (DFL) decides to support the Vikings stadium because of the jobs it will create.
The Minnesota House and Senate have each approved different versions of a Vikings stadium proposal. So now it is up to a conference committee to reconcile the differences.
Principle or politics? On Friday, Governor Mark Dayton went heavily with principle and imperiled the politics of his top legislative priority — thousands of jobs from building a new Vikings football stadium.
One year after the tornado that ravaged North Minneapolis, things are looking up for Anthony and Shemeika Strong. The absence of the Broadway Liquor Outlet has also been a blessing for their neighborhood.
Occupy backed homeowner successfully re-negotiated her loan with MN based US Bank.
Nearly a year after the tornado that ripped through North Minneapolis, opinions vary greatly on what the poverty-stricken community needs most from local and state government. Should the City introduce “pie in the sky” ideas or focus on more immediate problems?
Representative Bobby Jo Champion talks about the challenges facing some of his constituents in North Minneapolis almost a year after a devastating tornado.
Rebuild It Right, an organization made up of architects and designers from Minneapolis, is helping homeowners advocate for quality design in the wake of the May 22nd Tornado.
The Vikings stadium deal got the support of Minneapolis City Council members. Council member Don Samuels says that this is a good deal for his constituents. It will provide jobs to a part of the city that has the highest rate of unemployment.
Local, Minneapolis non-profit Urban Homeworks works with banks and other community organizations to fight foreclosures.
Embattled homeowner Monique White took one more step Friday toward what could become an improbable victory that would let her stay in her North Minneapolis home. Judge Mark Labine will decide on Monday whether White will get a jury trial in District Court.
The Northside Economic Opportunity Network works with small businesses and micro-businesses in North Minneapolis to help them achieve success.
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