State Canvassing Board Confirms Election Results
The State Canvassing Board met on 11/21/24 to present the Report of Votes Cast in the November 5 elections for Federal, State and Judicial Offices, “as taken from the certified abstracts of the election returns of the Counties of Minnesota.” Their report showed a total of 3,272,414 votes cast, for a turnout of 76.41% of registered voters - making MN the (likely) #1 Voter Turnout State, once again! Wisconsin and Maine are close behind, but they have not yet certified their elections, so stay tuned! Absentee voting was at 40%, which is less than the 2020 Covid year, but up significantly from 27% in 2022. The also reported that nearly 300,000 people voted on election day!
The Canvassing Board reviewed the Statewide Post-Election Review (PER) reports from all counties where our volunteers have been observing, and found that all 219 precincts selected by lot to be reviewed “met the requirements for acceptable performance… with no escalation to the next phase of review.” In short, the few discrepancies that were noted during the ‘audit’ were minimal enough to not warrant any further review, verifying the accuracy of the precinct tabulators.
Even so - there’s still one more review as part of the ongoing checks and safeguards in place to ensure proper vote counting - the Post-Election Performance Review. State Canvassing Board members drew (randomly, out of a fishbowl!) 4 precincts that were part of the PER, from each of the 8 MN Congressional Districts, to receive an additional check designed to monitor and evaluate election procedures in the precincts audited. We look forward to reporting on those results.
The canvassing board did not adjourn their meeting, because there are active recounts underway in districts 14B and 54A. Therefore, they recessed and will reconvene when the recounts are complete for a final certification of the elections. The board also approved a “Contingent Recount Plan for Discretionary Recounts” to govern the recount procedures, illustrating more safeguards for certifying the 2024 election results!
