Recount Complete, Dehn to Be Certified as Winner of 59B DFL Primary

Post and photo by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

Apologies for the terrible photo of a photo.  I am still unpacking and cannot for the life of me find the cord for my camera.  Actual recount photos to be uploaded as soon as possible.

This morning I got my first taste of how an election recount is handled.  Turns out the process is a cure for insomnia.  To start, the rules were read so that everyone was clear on how the day would proceed.  This was an administrative recount only, and would be limited to whether ballots were counted properly for each candidate.  Voter eligibility or possible campaign violations would not be considered at this event.  Since no one apparently contested the election results, the recount is expected to be the final tally for the DFL primary and Dehn will emerge as the winner.

Amid my criticism of how the final days of the election played out, I said that the time would come when we unite as a party and as a community and move forward.  For those of us voting on the DFL ticket at least, that time is now.

The chance for the recount being overturned were slim--the vast majority of ballots were counted correctly the first time.  For the ballots that weren't, those would very likely be statistically representative of the election as a whole.  So once the rules were explained, we got to the actual ballot counting itself, which was sort of like watching someone else check out a library book but less exciting because it took all day.  Even though the observers' area was full, hardly anyone spoke.  The ballot counters announced each ward and precinct, ceremoniously unsealed the ballots, and counted away.  Actual challenges to the ballots were quite rare, but did happen once while I was present...

Dirty Campaign Tricks Continue in 59B

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

Today voters in 59B received four mailers that all appear to be tied to the Raymond Dehn campaign.  One was from MAPE, another from AFSCME, and the final two from an entity called "Minneapolis Democrats for Truth."  Those two were blatant attack ads against fellow contender Ian Alexander.  It appears to me that these mailings were done by the same party or at least in overt coordination with one another.  There are several revealing factors that would hint at such a conclusion.  For instance...

Alleged Rules Violation by Local DFL Door Knocking Volunteers

Post and photo (of DFL office on West Broadway) by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

ADDENDUM:  A fairly satisfactory resolution was explained by Corey Day of the DFL party, and is summarized in the comments section below.

Two days ago, a North Talk post described an incident that, if true, would appear to violate DFL party rules.  In district 59B, the local convention adjourned without an endorsement.  Under DFL rules, specifically Article III, Section 4, Subsection H of the DFL Constitution and Bylaws, we read the following:

The Minnesota DFL Party at all levels shall not provide support and funds to candidates unless they are duly endorsed, or are seeking an office without party designation and are not running against a duly endorsed candidate.

The alleged incident in question was that a volunteer door knocker was going through a north Minneapolis neighborhood in 59B and talking to people specifically about DFL-endorsed candidates.   After going through a list of several who had been duly endorsed, the volunteer then began talking about Raymond Dehn.  By association, this volunteer was putting Dehn on the same level as DFL-endorsed candidates prior to the August 14th primary.  There are several ways this could have happened, most of which would appear to be a direct violation of the above rule...

Parliamentary Roundup of Senate District 59 DFL (part 1)

Post and photo by the Hawthorne Hawkman.


Note:  These two posts will deal more with the procedures of the convention, as the candidates themselves have plenty of forums to give their viewpoints, and as I hope to make the convention processes more accessible and transparent.

If you were to take your junior high experience and put it on steroids, then add a healthy dose of Robert's Rules of Order, throw that in a blender, and consume the concoction for twelve hours straight, that would give you some idea of what a local senate district party convention is like.  And last Saturday North Minneapolis, Bryn Mawr, and parts of downtown gathered to choose DFL endorsements for our newly numbered Senate district 59.  While the endorsement process itself had plenty of drama, the setup for the convention didn't help much either.

We were slated to begin at 9:30 a.m. and I arrived about ten minutes early.  Even if I missed the first few moments of the convention, this should have been plenty of time to register and find my spot.  For the uninitiated, local political conventions require you to know or find out the ward and precinct where you were elected as a delegate, and then find the corresponding table at the registration to sign in.  Once registered, you have to find your ward and precinct on the floor of the convention as well.  I've been doing this for years, and I often forget how disorienting even the registration can be for newbies.

And whoever did the set-up for the event must have thought to themselves, "If there were a zombie attack while everyone was registering, what would be the surest way to make sure the whole convention gets infected?"  Zombies, after all, are the epitome of groupthink, and would certainly make the endorsement process faster.  (I nominate the candidate who promises the most free brains!  All those in favor signify by saying "eeeerrrrrrhhhhhhmmmmm.")  Joking aside, the registration tables were set up in a narrow hallway right in front of the main entrance for the auditorium.  So we had people entering the school from both sides of the hallway, attempting to get to the registration tables, while other registrants were trying to leave, and while people already registered were trying to come and go from the auditorium.  Then when a few people in wheelchairs had to attempt passing through, that somehow added to the gridlock.

This had to be the worst placement of registration I have ever seen at a convention--unless the planners were inspired by Leonidas and the Spartans' battle against the Persians.  You might think I'm exaggerating here, but the 1:20 mark of the video below contains actual footage of the convention registration process.



It took me close to a half an hour just to get registered and up to my seat in the balcony area.  Even then we waited a while longer before starting the convention.  Why is the registration so important?  Because people with kids or pets can't be there all day.  Eventually you've got to go home and let them out of the kennel so they can go to the bathroom.  (The PETS, just to be entirely clear here.)  So the longer the day drags on, the fewer people are still around participating in the endorsement process.  We started almost an hour later than scheduled, and that was in large part due to the registration logjam.

The other unnecessary delay came when...