Minnesota Report
Just as is occurring nationally, here in Minnesota the Absentee Ballot counting has a possible impact on close elections in the legislature. Already in Senate District 14, Aric Putnam (DFL-14, St Cloud) has moved past incumbent Sen Jerry Relph (R-14, St Cloud) by 277 votes. We have listed other races in both the House and Senate where similar impact might occur. This could play a significant role in the Senate, because if Putnam’s margin holds that means the Republicans retain a one vote majority. Now granted not all of the Absentee Ballots will likely arrive and if so the bias does heavily favor the DFL candidates, but it is hard to make up a 1000 vote margin.
Yesterday, Secretary of State Simon (DFL-MN) held a press conference that provided a number of pieces of information stemming from yesterday’s election. Our current turnout figure, which is expected to grow as more Absentee Ballots are received in the forthcoming days, is 3,216,814 from an eligible amount of 4,118,462 people or 78.1%. There are 240,346 Absentee Ballot outstanding which may arrive over the next ten days. These will be segregated, processed and added to the overall vote totals. Simon Press Conference
The Secretary of State’s website lists the number of Absentee Ballots that remain outstanding by County, Senate District and House District. This means the potential for ballots to be received that exceed the number of vote margins in a many of the race results from Tuesday. We will show any changes in these races if they occur over the next few days.
The current results are:
| House | |||
| 05A | |||
| Republican | Matt Bliss | 11,468 | 53.38% |
| Democratic-Farmer-Labor | John Persell | 9,981 | 46.46% |
| WRITE-IN | WRITE-IN | 36 | 0.17% |
| +Republican Margin of 1487 votes with 2371 Absentee Ballots outstanding | |||
| 06A | |||
| Republican | Robert Farnsworth | 10,923 | 50.05% |
| Democratic-Farmer-Labor | Julie Sandstede | 10,876 | 49.84% |
| +Republican Margin of 47 votes with 1727 Absentee Ballots outstanding | |||
| 19A | |||
| Republican | Susan Akland | 11,603 | 50.16% |
| Democratic-Farmer-Labor | Jeff Brand | 11,491 49.67% | |
| WRITE-IN | WRITE-IN | 40 | 0.17% |
| +Republican Margin of 112 votes with 2323 Absentee Ballots outstanding | |||
| 54A | |||
| Republican | Keith Franke | 12,120 | 51.42% |
| Democratic-Farmer-Labor | Anne Claflin | 11,423 | 48.46% |
| WRITE-IN | WRITE-IN | 29 | 0.12% |
| +Republican Margin of 697 votes with 1126 Absentee Ballots outstanding | |||
| 55A | |||
| Legal Marijuana Now | Ryan Martin | 1,705 | 7.40% |
| Republican | Erik Mortensen | 10,923 | 47.42% |
| Democratic-Farmer-Labor | Brad Tabke | 10,363 | 44.99% |
| WRITE-IN | WRITE-IN | 44 | 0.19% |
| +Republican Margin of 560 votes with 1573 Absentee Ballots outstanding | |||
| Senate | |||
| 14 | |||
| Legal Marijuana Now | Jaden Partlo | 3,115 | 7.91% |
| Republican | Jerry Relph | 17,966 | 45.64% |
| Democratic-Farmer-Labor | Aric Putnam | 18,243 | 46.34% |
| WRITE-IN | WRITE-IN | 41 | 0.10% |
| +DFL Margin of 277 votes with 3145 Absentee Ballots outstanding | |||
| 25 | |||
| Republican | David H. Senjem | 25,001 | 51.20% |
| Democratic-Farmer-Labor | Sara Flick | 23,772 | 48.69% |
| WRITE-IN | WRITE-IN | 54 | 0.11% |
| +Republican Margin of 1229 votes with 3939 Absentee Ballots outstanding | |||
| 26 | |||
| Republican | Carla Nelson | 24,728 | 50.86% |
| Democratic-Farmer-Labor | Aleta Borrud | 23,822 | 48.99% |
| WRITE-IN | WRITE-IN | 73 | 0.15% |
| +Republican Margin of 906 votes with 4217 Absentee Ballots outstanding | |||
| 27 | |||
| Legal Marijuana Now | Tyler Becvar | 2,552 | 6.53% |
| Republican | Gene Dornink | 19,031 | 48.70% |
| Democratic-Farmer-Labor | Dan Sparks | 17,4 | 44.69% |
| WRITE-IN | WRITE-IN | 29 | 0.07% |
| +Republican Margin of 1567 votes with 4568 Absentee Ballots outstanding | |||
| 34 | |||
| Republican | Warren Limmer | 29,331 | 50.74% |
| Democratic-Farmer-Labor | Bonnie Westlin | 28,429 | 49.18% |
| WRITE-IN | WRITE-IN | 46 | 0.08% |
| +Republican Margin of 902 votes with 3523 Absentee Ballots outstanding | |||