Elections

Election Results: When will Minnesota’s ballots be counted by?

Published

1 year ago

October 26, 2020

Staff Writer

So far, this series of explainers has visited the swing states of Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—looking at when each might release their election results. Now let’s visit the Land of 10,000 Lakes: Minnesota.

For an explanation about the difference between mail-in and absentee ballots, check out this piece here by Ben Wilson: The Difference Between Absentee and Mail-In Ballots.

Minnesota has been one of the most consistently Democratic states in the country. Like Michigan and Wisconsin, Minnesota forms part of the Democrats’ traditional “Blue Wall” of support in the Great Lakes region. The last time it voted for a Republican was for then-incumbent President Richard Nixon in 1972. In 1984, it and the District of Columbia were the only parts of the country to give the Democratic nominee, former Vice President Walter Mondale electoral votes. However, all that could change in a couple weeks.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won the state by a razor-thin 1.5-point margin in 2016, a 44,593-vote difference between her and then-GOP nominee Trump. That’s a far cry from 2012, when then-President Barack Obama won the state by 8 points.

All of that being said, there’s a ton of pressure on humble Minnesota.

To prevent a backlog of ballots to count on Election Day, election workers have already begun counting absentee ballots. 60% of the requested absentee ballots in Ramsey County—where St. Paul is situated—have already been returned, CBS News 4 WCCO reports. So far, over 900,000 Minnesotans have voted.

How the ballot counting process works, according to deputy auditor Heather Bestler, is: “The ballots are scanned, the machine reads them and stores the information. Then, at 8 p.m. on election night, we hit tabulate. And that’s when we get all the results.”

According to the same WCCO report by Christiane Cordero, Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, the state’s head of elections, has said that the state is in a relatively good position to turn in results quickly.

One thing to keep in mind is that a state court and Simon agreed to allow ballots to be counted that are postmarked on Election Day and received by clerks up to seven days afterward, in anticipation of the U.S. Postal Service being weighed down with ballots.

All things considered, most of the results could likely be released within the two weeks following November 3, assuming that things go as planned.

You can follow Douglas Braff on Twitter @Douglas_P_Braff.

Elections

Biden’s Poor Polling and Harris’ Low Electability Rating Could Have Democrats Considering ‘Nuclear Option’

Behind-the-scenes discussion of how Democrats could arrive at a third option for the next election is underway

Published

4 days ago

December 1, 2021

Staff Writer

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

With polls consistently showing a poor approval rating for President Joe Biden at below 40 percent, and a recent poll put Kamala Harris’ electability at only 28 percent, Democrats are in full panic mode.

“Behind-the-scenes discussion of how Democrats could arrive at a third option for the next election is underway. Operatives are preparing for the possibility of a contested presidential primary in which other would-be nominees take on Ms. Harris, but that could be damaging for the party” reports the Telegraph.

Therefore, Democrats are allegedly whispering about a potential “nuclear option” that would call for current Vice President Harris to be nominated to the Supreme Court. The Telegraph writes that “while the scenario is highly improbable, and perhaps a reflection of a Washington rumor mill in overdrive, the fact it has come up at all shows the depths of the predicament the Biden administration currently finds itself in, amid rising inflation, a stalled domestic agenda, and foreign policy disasters.”

The theory in question would call for President Biden to nominate Harris to the Supreme Court in the event a seat opens in the next three years during his administration. Biden could then use “Section 2 of the 25thAmendment to nominate a more popular vice president”, adds the Telegraph.

Under Section 1 of the 25th Amendment, that new vice president could assume the presidency if Biden were to step down while president. They would then become the Democratic nominee in the 2024 presidential election. That same individual could also be the presumptive Democratic nominee in 2024 if Biden chooses not to run for re-election.

One piece of information that is wetting Democrats’ whistle is that current Supreme Court Justice Breyer has said he does not “want to stay on the Supreme Court until I die.”

The Telegraph notes that “the discussion over potential successors to Mr. Biden is highly unusual less than a year into an administration.”