Mike Lindell
Monday night is the deadline for Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Lindell to officially file for a hand recount of this month’s primary election results.
The Trump-endorsed candidate did not concede the race after Lisa Demuth won the GOP nomination by 11 points, or about 45,000 votes. Lindell said last week he was requesting the recount over what he calls “irregularities” in election data.
State law allows a candidate to call for a ballot recount regardless of the outcome, but they must pay for it themselves if the gap between the winner and runner-up is not small enough to trigger an automatic recount.
In a statement from Lindell’s campaign, he makes claims that the recount process was changed and doesn’t follow Minnesota law. He says his campaign is taking legal action.
The Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office said the deadline is 11:59 p.m. on Monday to receive the money to pay for the recount, and provided the following statement on Lindell’s litigation:
“Our office provided the contingent recount plan to Mr. Lindell after it was approved by the State Canvassing Board on August 18. The plan follows state law and administrative rules on recount procedures, and is consistent with plans of its kind for the past two decades.”
Lindell’s statement also cites evidence of an $825,000 wire transfer that is “primed and ready to cover the cost of the nation’s largest recount effort in history.”
