Here's the info unfiltered:
MN Secretary of State News Release: State Canvassing Board Announced
STATE CANVASSING BOARD ANNOUNCED
Partial List of Recount Locations Released
SAINT PAUL, Minn.-Nov. 12, 2008―Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie today announced the members of the State Canvassing Board. By Minnesota law, representation must include two Minnesota Supreme Court justices, two district court judges and the board is chaired by the Secretary of State. Canvass board members named are Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric J. Magnuson and Justice G. Barry Anderson. Chief Judge Kathleen R. Gearin and Assistant Chief Judge Edward J. Cleary have also been tapped from the Second Judicial District to serve on the board. Ritchie made his selections based upon recommendations made by Chief Justice Magnuson and Chief Judge Gearin.
The board will convene at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 18 in room 10 of the State Office Building. At that time, a formal pronouncement of a statewide recount of nearly 3 million ballots is expected in the U.S. Senate race, as well as two state house races and one in the state Senate.
A list of 74 recount sites also was released, with locations provided for nearly half of the state's counties. A complete listing of sites is expected in the next several days. The recount will begin on Nov. 19.
"I thank the justices and judges for their service to this state and to this historic State Canvassing Board," said Ritchie. "I appreciate their leadership during this recount process that will ensure that Minnesota's proud tradition of free and fair elections continues."
EDITORS NOTES:
Link to a listing of State Canvassing Board members: http://www.sos.state.mn.us/docs/statewide_general_election_canvassing_board.pdf
Link to a listing of recount location information: http://www.sos.state.mn.
And the reaction from the Coleman and Franken campaigns:
COLEMAN FOR SENATE STATEMENT REGARDING SECRETARY OF STATE MARK RITCHIE’S COMMENTS
ST. PAUL - Statement from Cullen Sheehan, campaign manager:
“When Al Franken and his attorneys take to the airwaves hours after the election ends and make unfounded accusations alleging massive voter irregularities and fraud, the silence from Secretary of State Mark Ritchie was deafening. When the Coleman campaign raises legitimate ballot security concerns, over instances such as 32 new ballots appearing in the car of a Minneapolis city official, Mr. Ritchie goes on a national media campaign characterizing our actions as political. His accusation today that our campaign intends to win ‘at any price’ is offensive, demands an apology and simply underscores our concerns about his ability to act as an unbiased official in this recount. His statement is not reflective of the objective, non-partisan standards Minnesotans expect and deserve, and which Mr. Ritchie as Secretary of State is sworn to uphold. And we are concerned about the pattern we are seeing.”
Mark Ritchie’s Comments:
“Asked about the Coleman campaign's criticism of the recanvassing process, Ritchie said: ‘Their goal is to win at any price. They’ve invested millions and millions of dollars. We consider this part of the normal political rhetoric,’ said Ritchie. ‘We're used to the political rhetoric being amped up. That’s part of their job — to win at any price.’” (Josh Kraushaar, “MN Secretary of State: Coleman's goal 'to win at any price,'” The Politico, November 12, 2008)
FRANKEN CAMPAIGN STATEMENT ON SECRETARY OF STATE'S ANNOUNCEMENT |
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| SAINT PAUL [11/12/2008 Andy Barr, Communications Director for the Al Franken for Senate campaign, released the following statement today: "The Coleman campaign and its political allies have been trying to claim that Minnesota's Secretary of State is just a left-wing partisan. I think we can all now see that their claims were just political posturing. Today, Mark Ritchie has named two partisan Republican Supreme Court justices to the state canvassing board. "Chief Justice Magnuson was Governor Pawlenty's law partner. Justice Anderson spent a decade representing the Minnesota GOP. And both were named to the Supreme Court by Governor Pawlenty, who has been an active surrogate for the Coleman campaign, going on television to spread false claims of foul play in an effort to besmirch our state's good reputation and cast doubt on our electoral process. "Nevertheless, there are clear laws laying out how this recount should proceed. And we will continue to hope that, despite the partisan affiliations of these two justices, they are capable of interpreting those laws correctly and ruling fairly on matters related to this recount. "The real question is: Will the Coleman campaign continue its shameful effort to prevent every vote from being counted fairly, or will they stop spreading baseless claims?" |