A note on the 2010 election in Minnesota

Just the facts, folks, on the 2010 election:

MN Voter Registration rate 83.68%….MN Voter Participation rate 69.8%. (More voters than there were votes cast, despite what Republicans say.)

At 10:56pm, the WCA levy vote trails 192-170

I'll be updating my blog into the night.

Let's hope and PRAY for good things to happen with the results.

• In statewide and local races as of 11pm...

In House District 11A, with 20.8% of the precincts reporting, the tallies are: Torrey Westrom 3,371 - Bennett Smith 1,327 - Dave Holman 254. Westrom leads 68% to 26% to 5%.

In Senate District 11, with 22% of the precincts reporting, the tallies are: Bill Ingebrigtsen 5,369 - Jim Thoreen 2,450.

******Update at midnight...great news! At least for now...the WCA levy vote is now in the lead 464 to 439. Oh boy, it is going to be a roller coaster of a night. Pray for good things!

At midnight, with 50.39% of the precincts reporting statewide, the governor race tallies are: Mark Dayton 608,715 (44.9%), Tom Emmer 564,991 (41.72%), Tom Horner 164,809 (12.1%).

Just a few minutes after midnight...YIKES! the WCA levy vote is in the lead 604 to 569. That is a razor thin margin.

At 12:30am, in the Grant County Recorder race, Diann Giese holds a huge lead with 30.4% of the precincts reporting. The tally sits at 541 for Giese with 277 for Tonia Dittberner.

In the 7th Congressional District race, Collin Peterson has been declared the winner over Lee Byberg by the Associated Press.

12:48am... the WCA levy vote sits at 609 yes to 572 no.

In the race for mayor of Kensington, Jim Schecker defeated Ralph Gunderson by a 74 to 47 vote margin.

Stay tuned!















Rural Minnesota school district levy vote totals:
* Willmar * 4,627 no to 4,411 yes.

Voting precinct locations for West Central Area district voters

Click to enlarge.

I'm very anxious for the vote on Tuesday - mainly to see how the WCA levy turns out

...and yes WCA voters, please vote yes!

In the interest of the public's right to know...

Due to the fact that Grant County is broke (generally speaking), the general election "sample ballot" was not published in our Herman-Hoffman Tribune.

Once the county auditor's office found out what it would cost to publish it in our newspaper, they decided to do only what the state law requires: publish it two times leading up to the general election in the official "county newspaper" - which is the Grant County Herald.

Obviously, my publisher was angry. I am too. Of course, 99% of the blame lies with Governor Pawlenty and the tea party, anti-tax, cut-government-into-oblivion crowd. I don't have ill feelings towards our county auditor - this time, the county budget said "no".

Our phone has been ringing off the hook today with angry seniors who wanted to see the ballot in their Herman-Hoffman Tribune.

The best I can do is have a copy of it in my office (which I do) so people can come down and look at it or get copies.

The dumbing down of America continues...

What a truly awful person, he rates down there with pond scum and Tom Emmer...running for secretary of state, to boot? Dan Severson, public enemy #2

Headline = Severson: Students should not be allowed to vote where they go to school

Dan Severson is the Republican endorsed candidate for Secretary of State in Minnesota.

http://mnpublius.com/post/1407024213/severson-students-should-not-be-allowed-to-vote-where

...Severson feels that college students are not "engaged" enough to cast a reasonable vote.

I'm quite upset that the campaign season is almost over, because there's little chance that I'll cross paths with this creep between now and Nov. 2. I'd love to give him a piece of my mind!

Tea Party "poll watchers" - I'll be watching you in my area - I dare you to suppress voter turnout

Read more about what the Tea Party is whining about here: http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/105829608.html?page=3&c=y

This is truly awful - Tea Party activists push a woman to the ground and stomp on her head (I wish I was making this up)

The incident happened before a debate in Kentucky. A sad day in America.

Click here for the details: http://www.bluebluegrass.com/2010/10/25/republican-rand-pauls-brownshirts-assault-and-stomp-the-head-of-a-moveon-org-woman-before-the-ket-debate

Delaware Republican Senate nominee O'Donnell asks whether Constitution prohibits establishment of religion

From the Associated Press...

WILMINGTON, Del. - Republican Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell of Delaware on Tuesday questioned whether the U.S. Constitution calls for a separation of church and state, appearing to disagree or not know that the First Amendment bars the government from establishing religion.

The exchange came in a debate before an audience of legal scholars and law students at Widener University Law School, as O'Donnell criticized Democratic nominee Chris Coons' position that teaching creationism in public school would violate the First Amendment by promoting religious doctrine.

Coons said private and parochial schools are free to teach creationism but that "religious doctrine doesn't belong in our public schools."

"Where in the Constitution is the separation of church and state?" O'Donnell asked him.

When Coons responded that the First Amendment bars Congress from making laws respecting the establishment of religion, O'Donnell asked: "You're telling me that's in the First Amendment?"

Her comments, in a debate aired on radio station WDEL, generated a buzz in the audience.

"You actually audibly heard the crowd gasp," said Widener University political scientist Wesley Leckrone, adding that he thought it raised questions about O'Donnell's grasp of the Constitution.

House District 11A forum being held tonight (Thursday) in Morris

There is a forum on Thursday night, October 14, in Morris featuring the candidates for Senate District 11 and House District 11A beginning at 7pm at the Morris American Legion. (It's west of the train tracks on Highway 28 by Casey's gas station.)

Also, Congressional District 7 candidate Lee Byberg will be at Detoys Restaurant in Morris on Oct 22nd from 10-11 am.

House District 11A candidate debate on Pioneer TV tonight (Thursday)

Tonight (Thursday) on Pioneer Public TV at 8:00pm - a live debate between Bennett Smith of Donnelly, Dave Holman of Morris, and Torrey Westrom of Elbow Lake - all candidates for House District 11A, which includes all of Stevens and Grant Counties plus the west half of Douglas County.

Call in and pick their brains - I don't care much for uninformed voters.

Democracy isn't easy

I just got back from the Tom Emmer rally at the Douglas County Republican headquarters in Alexandria, held at 3:30 today.

I showed up about 10 minutes late (typical) but had plenty to take in when I arrived. On the other side of the street was a young man with a megaphone. A loud one. Even though it was quite windy, it wasn't hard to hear what he was saying.

His mom and sister are both former waitresses; his wife is a waitress. (Guess what he was upset about) I won't be adding much more than that, because I'm in the process of finding out what, if any, laws he broke while protesting. Apparently, the cops were called on a complaint either about what he was doing or what he was saying.

Last I checked, though, this wasn't Nazi Germany. Hopefully we can keep it that way.

**Update at 8:30pm...the gentleman who was protesting gave me a call tonight and reported that he, in fact, was not breaking any laws, and had a nice conversation with a police officer with the Alexandria P.D. about what he was doing. After reviewing the city's noise ordinance, it was determined that he was not breaking any laws.

Chalk one up for the little guy.

• Visit the Herman-Hoffman Tribune website videos page to see a clip of Emmer speaking to his supporters at the headquarters. I just uploaded and edited the taglines at 9:00 tonight.

http://www.hermanhoffmantribune.com/?page_id=432

Tomorrow I'll talk a little bit about what Emmer was saying inside headquarters. Most of it will be on the videos page. I have one of the two clips already loaded. I will give all sorts of credit to the Emmer campaign, his speaking style has gotten very refined and polished. He gave many valid points in what I heard him say.

He still can't shake what he said last July, though. (About cheating restaurant servers out of their wages with a tip credit.)

Pope, Grant, and Douglas Minnesota Farmers Union units holds Tri-County meeting at Lakeside in Glenwood

The annual Tri-County Convention was held tonight at Lakeside Ballroom in Glenwood.

Bruce Miller, a 1972 graduate of the University of Minnesota-Morris and current director of membership for MFU, was the keynote speaker. He is in the photo below, giving a very good explanation of Legacy Grant funding in Minnesota, which comes from the recent sales tax increase that voters approved in 2008.


Below, county convention goers talk about an idea to limit the terms of our politicians in Washington, D.C.

Below, the problem with declining enrollments and job opportunities in small towns is discussed.


A number of topics important to the success of Rural Minnesota were discussed. In the short period that I attended the meeting, the following areas of discussion were held - cutting E.P.A. funding, the size and scope of the DNR's power, the pros and cons of term limits, rural areas' aging populations, declining school enrollments, job opportunities in small towns, and Legacy Grant funding.

Tonight - Thurs., Sept 9 - Senate District 11 candidates will debate on Pioneer Public TV

Tonight - if you're not a die-hard Vikings fan, or if you can DVR television events... at 8:00pm on Pioneer Public TV, Senate District 11 candidates Bill Ingebrigtsen and Jim Thoreen will debate one another on the issues.

The Pioneer Public TV website is: http://www.pioneer.org/

Minnesota's success with military voting is example for other states

By Secretary of State Mark Ritchie

As other states struggle to implement new federal laws to help military voters, some are looking at what we have been able to do in Minnesota. Through a combination of legislative reforms and technology, we made it easier for our military personnel to vote and gave them more time to participate.

One of the biggest obstacles to voting faced by military personnel has been the lack of time available to receive, complete and return their ballots on time. Many are stationed in combat zones and remote places with inconsistent mail delivery services. While the process of receiving and returning an absentee ballot takes only a few days for a voter living in Brainerd, that same process may take more than a month for someone serving in Afghanistan.

Another barrier has been the intricate rules and procedures that often tripped up otherwise eligible voters. For example, some voters simply forget to sign their absentee ballot envelopes. These errors used to be discovered too late to notify voters.

Over the last three years the Office of the Secretary of State made military enfranchisement a priority and worked with the Pentagon, local election officials, legislators from both sides of the aisle, and the governor to improve the process.

We were able to get authorization for local election officials to send military voters their ballots by e-mail or fax. This cut ballot transit time in half, giving military voters more time to get their ballots returned before Election Day.

We successfully advocated for legislation requiring local election officials to immediately review returned military and overseas absentee ballots for errors so that replacements can be sent to provide voters a second chance to correct any problems that would otherwise prevent their vote from being legally counted.

We created a special easy-to-use website to help military and overseas voters cut through the red-tape. This free service has helped thousands of voters get their ballots and participate in our democracy.

We worked with the legislature to move Minnesota's primary a month earlier. Our late primary election left too few days for many of our service men and women serving abroad to participate in general elections. With help from the legislature we made it a requirement that absentee ballots be sent out at least 46 days before an election to voters who requested them to ensure that they had more time to return them before Election Day.

The results of these reforms and innovations have been dramatic. Military voting tripled from 2006 to 2008 with more than 3,000 service men and women successfully casting ballots. Military and overseas voters' absentee ballot rejection rates in 2008 were reduced-down to less than 2 percent compared to 3.5 percent for domestic absentee voters. Minnesota was recognized for its leading efforts to build overseas and military voter participation and for having one of the highest military and overseas voter satisfaction rates in the country in 2008.

Last month, Minnesota held its 2010 primary in August. While primaries are smaller than general elections, the results show that we continue to make progress. For example, by getting ballots out much earlier we were able to reduce the rejection rate for military and overseas absentee ballots to only .87 percent. This is compared to 3.4 percent for domestic absentee voters who still face complicated procedures.

These results are promising and reveal that commonsense reforms make a difference. Minnesota's success serves as a model for other states facing these same hurdles. It proves that by working with the Pentagon and voting assistance officers in the military, we can ensure that those fighting to protect our democracy can fully participate in it.

Here it is folks, your local primary voting results!

So I couldn't resist staying up a little longer tonight and going to the Secretary of State's website and tallying local primary vote results. In no particular order, here's what I came up with...

Grant County primary vote results

Mark Dayton wins the city of Hoffman's DFL primary vote, followed by Margaret Anderson Kelliher. Results from Hoffman's precinct: Dayton 29, Kelliher 17, Entenza 7. Just to the west in Herman, Dayton also won. Results from Herman's precinct: Dayton 14, Anderson Kelliher 11, Entenza 5.

Republican primary in the 7th Congressional District: Lee Byberg loses to Alan Roebke by a 10 to 6 margin in Hoffman. Byberg wins over Roebke in Herman by a 5 to 2 margin.

Also interesting in Herman...the Republican endorsed candidate for Attorney General, Chris Barden, lost to perennial Republican candidate Sharon Anderson by a 4 to 3 margin.

In Elk Lake Township, Alan Roebke defeated Republican-endorsed Lee Byberg by a 6 to 5 margin. In the DFL governor primary, Anderson Kelliher defeated Dayton with 56% of the vote. Elk Lake Township precinct results: Anderson Kelliher 14, Dayton 9, Entenza 2.

In Land Township, Lee Byberg defeated Roebke 3 to 2 in the 7th Congressional District Republican primary. Anderson Kelliher defeated Dayton in Land Township with 52% of the vote. Land Township precinct results: Anderson Kelliher 15, Dayton 11, Entenza 3.

In the city of Norcross, Alan Roebke won the only Republican vote cast in the 7th Congressional District primary. Byberg was skunked. By the same token, Dayton took all four DFL votes in the governor race primary, with Anderson Kelliher and Entenza getting no votes in Norcross.

Now a look at Douglas County

In Holmes City Township, Alan Roebke and Lee Byberg ended up at a tie, with a 14-14 vote margin, in the Republican primary for the 7th Congressional District. In the DFL governor primary, Dayton won with 49% of the vote. Holmes City Township precinct results: Dayton 33, Anderson Kelliher 23, Entenza 11.

In Solem Township, Dayton won with 61% of the vote (13 total votes)...Final results in the DFL governor primary in the Solem Township precinct: Dayton 8, Anderson Kelliher 4, Entenza 1.

In Urness Township, the Republican-endorsed candidate Lee Byberg is defeated by Alan Roebke by a 9 to 5 vote margin. In the DFL governor primary, Anderson Kelliher scored a victory with 46% of the vote. Solem Township precinct results: Anderson Kelliher 11, Dayton 8, Entenza 5.

Finally, in the city of Kensington, Alan Roebke defeated Lee Byberg in a barn burner of a race, winning by a 2 to 1 margin in the 7th Congressional District Republican primary. In the DFL primary for the governor race, Dayton won with 40% of the vote. Final results from Kensington in the DFL governor primary: Dayton 12, Anderson Kelliher 11, Entenza 6.

Over in Pope County

In the 7th Congressional District Republican primary, again we had a tie. Byberg 2, Roebke 2. In the race for the Republican Attorney General nod, the party-endorsed Chris Barden was left in a tie with Sharon Anderson by a 2 to 2 vote margin.

In the DFL primary for governor in Farwell, Anderson Kelliher won 56% of the vote. Final precinct results from the city of Farwell: Anderson Kelliher 5, Dayton 3, Entenza 1.

In Nora Township, Alan Roebke scored a win over Lee Byberg in the 7th Congressional District Republican primary, winning by a 6 to 4 vote margin. In Nora's results for the DFL governor nomination, Anderson Kelliher won with 42% of the vote. Final results from Nora Township in the DFL governor primary: Anderson Keilliher 14, Dayton 12, Entenza 6.

A bigger look at the 7th Congressional District primary on the Republican side...

With 69% of precincts reporting (as of 23:36 hours on Tuesday night), Lee Byberg is sweating out a tough primary battle with Alan Roebke. The current tally has Byberg at 8,427 votes (63.83%) and Roebke with 4,776 votes (36.17%).

**Update on Wednesday morning at 7:30am... As a whole, Pope County Republican voters sent a negative signal to Lee Byberg, as Roebke defeated him by a 370 to 317 vote margin.

Click here to find the results at the SOS website: http://electionresults.sos.state.mn.us/20100810/

Numerous additions (photos) have been added to the Herman-Hoffman Tribune's Facebook fan page

If you are a Facebook user, be sure to become a fan of the Herman-Hoffman Tribune! Just do a search for "Herman-Hoffman Tribune" and click "like".

Also, more photos and photo albums have been added to the Herman-Hoffman Tribune's online photo gallery. Just visit our website and click on the "DotPhoto" link on the left hand column.

www.HermanHoffmanTribune.com

Once you're at the DotPhoto website, you can scroll through four pages of photo albums, with many of the albums containing sub-albums with additional photos related to each topic.

Here's the direct link to the photo album with pictures from last night's Hoffman American Legion/Auxiliary Western Show: http://freescout.dotphoto.com/CPViewAlbum.asp?AID=6139720

Spring meetings are underway for Minnesota Farmers Union - local site is in Glenwood tomorrow morning (Tuesday)

Minnesota Farmers Union President Doug Peterson invites members and friends to attend the annual MFU spring meetings April 12-15.

This is an opportunity for members, rural folk, or anyone, to come see how Minnesota Farmers Union works on the issues that impact our rural community and state and how MFU can make a difference for farmers and rural Minnesotans. People are encouraged to come discuss their concerns. MFU will be talking about where issues stand at the State Legislature, as well as on the federal level. Grab a friend or neighbor and come join MFU. Coffee is on us!

The dates, time and location of the meetings are as follows:

· Tuesday, April 13, 9:30 a.m.: Lakeside Café in Glenwood, 180 South Lakeshore Drive.