Updated

Updated · The Daily Beast · Aug 25

Mike Lindell Misses $825,000 Minnesota Recount Deadline After 45,000-Vote Primary Loss

Updated

Updated · The Daily Beast · Aug 25

Mike Lindell Misses $825,000 Minnesota Recount Deadline After 45,000-Vote Primary Loss

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 · The Daily Beast · Aug 25

Monday’s deadline passed without Lindell filing the bond, cash or surety needed to challenge his loss to Lisa Demuth in Minnesota’s Republican gubernatorial primary.
An Aug. 18 recount plan approved by the State Canvassing Board put the cost at $825,000 and limited the recount to votes for Lindell and Demuth, while his campaign demanded a review of every ballot cast in both parties’ Aug. 11 primaries.
Lindell’s campaign said an $825,000 wire was ready but withheld payment over what it called an unlawful “bait and switch,” and said it was seeking immediate legal action to pause the deadline.
Minnesota’s secretary of state office said the plan follows state law and administrative rules and matches recount procedures used for the past two decades.
The missed filing extends a failed challenge after Lindell lost by 11 points—about 45,000 votes—and comes as he continues soliciting donations despite mounting legal judgments, fines and unpaid bills.