Dayton: Seat the governor by January 3rd
Democrat Mark Dayton says he thinks any likely recount in the governor's race should be finished by the middle of December. Dayton currently leads Republican Tom Emmer by just over 87-hundred votes in unofficial results, a small enough margin to trigger an automatic recount. On MPR's Midday program, Dayton says he's working on two tracks at this point. He's preparing to take office as governor and has also assembled a team to monitor the recount.
"It's sort of like having one foot driving the car the way you're not supposed to. One foot on the gas pedal and the other on the brake. On the one hand, the clock is ticking. I believe strongly that the next governor, whether it's Representative Emmer or myself that the next governor should take office on January 3rd and there's no reason that that should not occur."
The Republican Party of Minnesota has been reaching out to activists to see whether they saw voting irregularities or had their absentee ballots rejected. Emmer has not spoken to the media since Election Night.
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Here's the full interview:
Meanwhile, the Secretary of State has released a schedule for the recount:
Initial meeting of the State Canvassing Board:
November 23, 2010: 10 a.m.
Room 10, State Office Building, St. Paul
Tasks:
certification of election results
determination of the need for any automatic recounts
designation of state recount official
adoption of a recount plan
Recount begins at locations around the state:
November 29, 2010 9 a.m.
(Locations to be decided)
Deadline for deputy recount officials to finish sorting the ballots:
December 7, 2010
State Canvassing Board meetings:
December 8, 2010 9 a.m.
December 9, 2010 9 a.m.
December 10, 2010 1 p.m.
(Location to be decided)
Tasks:
certification of any recounts in state House races
determination of challenged ballots in the gubernatorial recount
State Canvassing Board meeting:
December 14, 2010 (time and location to be decided)
Tasks:
certification of gubernatorial election