 Mark Dayton was certified Thursday Dec 16th by Minnesota’s Secretary of State. His inauguration will be January 3rd.
Dayton names new chief of staff Tina Smith. She previously held a similar position in Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak's office. Dayton says Smith is widely-known and respected, not only as a strong and seasoned leader, but also for her ability to build bridges and reach common ground.
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David Schultz, Hamline professor says, “Dayton and GOP-led Legislature should act on what works, not ideology and wishful thinking.”
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This may be the first election where the candidate with more votes was not declared by the media to be the winner of a Recount. But, certainly, it’s not a first for the loser with fewer votes, at least 8,000 of them, to stall the inevitable with an ambiguous comment such as the one Emmer made after the Recount, "This is by no means the end of the election cycle -- it's the beginning of something new ... We're not going away regardless what happens. We're stickin' around."
The only way to stick around is a lawsuit, which Emmer has previously stated he would not entertain, not pursue without justification to do so. So, Emmer’s statements as to what he plans on doing after the Election Certificate is awarded to his opponent remain ambiguous.
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MinnPost’s Jay Weiner writes that 99% of the frivolous challenges were dropped by the Emmer campaign. That is, of course, after Emmer’s legal counsel, Eric Magnuson and Tony Trimble were admonished by Justice Anderson for “frivolous ballots.”
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Emmer’s Minnesota Supreme Court petition to have all the votes reconciled was denied. No opinion yet on why the Supreme Court denied Emmer or when it will be made public.
Although the Emmer camp was hoping to pick up enough votes to overcome Dayton’s lead, those hopes were dashed by legit votes gained by Dayton and the small number of actual challenges made by Emmer to overcome Dayton.
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December 14th the Canvassing Board will certify the votes and declare a winner. What the Emmer Camp will do after that is anyone’s guess. They have one week to file an election contest.
David Brauer of MinnPost writes:
“Here's Minnesota statute 204.C40:
No certificate of election shall be issued until seven days after the canvassing board has declared the result of the election. In case of a contest, an election certificate shall not be issued until a court of proper jurisdiction has finally determined the contest.”
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Erik Black of MinnPost wrote, “The big test of the Repubs’ intentions will come during the third week of December. If everything else stays on track and the Canvassing Board issues a final decision Dec. 14 that Mark Dayton got the most votes and is entitled to an election certificate, Team Emmer will have one week to file an election contest. If that happens, and if such a contest follows the normal process of a trial and perhaps an appeal, there is little chance of a final result by Jan. 3. As I have written previously, if a contest is filed without the Repubs having brought forward credible evidence that they have a chance to overcome Dayton’s lead, they will be playing with political fire.”
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