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

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
Historic Recall: San Francisco recalls soft on crime District Attorney

San Francisco voters have officially recalled extreme progressive Chesa Boudin. The San Francisco Chronicle noted the event as a “historic recall.”
BREAKING: San Francisco removes Chesa Boudin in historic recall.
See live election results, including vote breakdown by district: https://t.co/K8so2kwzTn pic.twitter.com/cfomntkHbX
— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) June 8, 2022
“The election, closely-watched across the nation, came after months of intense debate over criminal justice and public safety in San Francisco” writes the Chronicle.
The voters are “frustrated with a dysfunctional city” and horrendous crime rates. They saw “an elected official unwilling to acknowledge he was at least partly responsible for the problems – and cast him out.”
Boudin received an overwhelming 60% vote in favor of recall. San Francisco voters “embrace being labeled as progressive” but “decided they wanted a more traditional crime-fighter as district attorney and delivered what will be viewed nationally as a blow to efforts to reshape criminal justice” adds the Chronicle.
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