Updated

Updated · KSTP · Aug 25

Mike Lindell Launches Legal Fight Over $825,000 Minnesota Recount as 11-Point Deadline Looms

Updated

Updated · KSTP · Aug 25

Mike Lindell Launches Legal Fight Over $825,000 Minnesota Recount as 11-Point Deadline Looms

Q: Will a missing $825,000 payment permanently halt a major statewide recount, or will the courts intervene in time?

Unless a judge acts very quickly, the missing $825,000 is likely to stop this recount from going forward under the normal timetable. Minnesota law requires a candidate seeking a discretionary recount to file the request and submit the money within five days of the primary canvass. State election officials set Monday night as Lindell’s deadline and have said their recount plan is lawful, approved by the State Canvassing Board, and consistent with procedures used for roughly 20 years. If that deadline passes without payment and a valid request, the state is not obligated to begin the recount. That does not automatically end the legal fight. Lindell says the money is ready and that he is seeking emergency court relief, including a temporary restraining order, to pause or extend the deadline while a judge reviews whether the recount should cover only ballots for him and Lisa Demuth or all votes cast in the gubernatorial primary. Courts can intervene in election disputes on an emergency basis, but they typically require a clear legal basis and move cautiously when statutes set firm deadlines. So the recount is not necessarily “permanently” dead yet, but it is stalled. Its survival now depends less on whether Lindell has the money and more on whether a court is willing to override or pause the statutory deadline in time. Without that intervention, the recount effort is likely to lapse.

3 articles · Updated · KSTP · Aug 25

Monday’s 11:59 p.m. deadline requires Mike Lindell to submit payment to secure a hand recount of Minnesota’s GOP gubernatorial primary, even after losing to Lisa Demuth by about 45,000 votes.
Lindell’s campaign says it is taking legal action, arguing the recount process was changed and does not comply with Minnesota law, while citing alleged election-data irregularities.
The Secretary of State’s office said the contingent recount plan was approved by the State Canvassing Board on Aug. 18, follows state law and administrative rules, and matches similar plans used for two decades.
An $825,000 wire transfer is, according to Lindell’s campaign, ready to fund what it calls the nation’s largest recount effort, though state law requires candidates to pay when the margin is too wide for an automatic recount.