UpTake Editorial

Disenfranchisement Debate on MN Recount

Secretary of State Mark Ritchie delivered a statement and took questions from the Minnesota State Senate's State and Local Government Operations and Oversight Committee. Several Republican members of the Committee raised questions casting shadows of doubt on the recount process. Sen. Dick Day (R-Owatanna) questioned the need for a State Canvassing Board to count improperly filled out ballots, adding that he does not care "if you're disenfranchised or not."

Secretary Ritchie emotionally fired back by recalling his elderly grandmother, "sharp as a tack until the day she died," who could not fill in a circle due to shaking. Ritchie defended the process and expressed disappointment in elected officials who did not do more to quell "false" criticisms of both state officials and the recount process from some segments of the local and national media.