MyPillow founder Mike Lindell has long denied President Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election.Now, he’s refusing to accept his own election loss in the GOP primary for governor of Minnesota.
The Minnesota Supreme Court rejected Lindell’s bid Saturday to order a full recount of his Aug.11 loss to state House Speaker Lisa Demuth after she won the Republican primary by 45,000 votes.
Chief Justice Natalie E.Hudson wrote in a six-page ruling that the Minnesota secretary of state’s office and its State Canvassing Board provided a recount plan that follows the law and are “not committing any wrongful act, omission, or error” as Lindell claimed.
Lindell told NBC News in a phone call Saturday evening that he plans to appeal the ruling to the U.S.Supreme Court.
He said that his team is also requesting the data from all 87 counties through the Freedom of Information Act in order to pursue an independent investigation of the election data.“I’m willing to pay even more money.
I don’t care what it costs,” Lindell said.Lindell previously pledged to pay an estimated $825,000 to cover a full hand recount and audit of the race but refused to pay the money on Monday, which marked the state’s deadline, after finding out that the recount only included counting the ballots cast for either Lindell or Demuth.
Lindell sued the Minnesota secretary of state’s office and its State Canvassing Board Monday, claiming that they pulled a “bait-and-switch” on him by not counting the ballots for everyone in the seven-candidate Republican field.The secretary of state’s office said in a statement Tuesday that it provided the contingent recount plan to Lindell after the State Canvassing Board approved it Aug.
18, writing that “the plan follows state law and administrative rules on recount procedures and is consistent with previous recount plans.”Hudson acknowledged in her ruling that Lindell argued that “he is entitled to a full recount for both...