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

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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.

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Elections

Videotapes from Jan. 6 Committee Witness Interviews Vanish

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Videotapes containing witness interviews conducted by the Democrat-led January 6 congressional committee have disappeared. The chairman of the House Administration oversight subcommittee, Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), expressed his apprehension on the “Just the News, No Noise” television show.

According to Loudermilk, all videotapes of depositions have vanished, raising questions about the preservation of crucial evidence. He argued that, under House rules, these tapes qualified as congressional evidence, especially since some clips were aired during hearings. Loudermilk contended that the tapes should have been preserved by the now-defunct Jan. 6 committee and its chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.).

Loudermilk’s revelation has broader implications, potentially impacting criminal trials in both state court in Georgia and federal court in Washington, where individuals, including former President Donald Trump, face charges related to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Notably, Trump’s legal team had recently requested evidence from the Jan. 6 committee but was denied by a judge.

The situation takes a further twist as Loudermilk disclosed that the J6 committee had sent certain evidence, such as transcripts, to the Biden White House and the Homeland Security Department. Shockingly, these transcripts have now been returned to Loudermilk’s GOP-led subcommittee almost entirely redacted, preventing the disclosure of their contents.

The lack of records regarding witnesses, their statements, and the extensive redactions have raised concerns among House Republicans. Loudermilk emphasized that these documents belong to the House and should not have been sent in such a heavily redacted form. The chairman questioned the motives behind the redactions, asking why a Democrat-run House was allowed to have unredacted documents while a Republican committee’s efforts were obstructed. This development adds another layer of complexity to the ongoing investigations into the events surrounding January 6, 2021.

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