Lindell says the money is ready, but he wants a court to settle the proposed recount’s scope first. The standoff leaves his requested statewide hand recount in limbo despite Minnesota’s tight filing rules.
Mike Lindell is withholding payment for a recount request in Minnesota’s Republican primary for governor, saying the state’s proposed process is unlawful. Lindell’s campaign says its $825,000 payment is ready, but it has not submitted the money while challenging a plan that would recount ballots cast for Lindell and Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth rather than every vote in the GOP primary.
The immediate consequence is that the proposed recount has not moved forward. Minnesota law requires an apparent losing primary candidate seeking a discretionary recount to submit both the request and the funds within five days after the canvass, making the disagreement over procedure and timing central to Lindell’s effort.
The payment is the roadblock
Lindell, the MyPillow founder, finished second in the current Republican primary results behind Demuth. State election officials reported that Demuth received 179,683 votes and Lindell received 134,282, a difference of 45,401 votes.
After the Aug. 11 primary, Lindell said he would not concede until every vote was counted. He said his team had identified “anomalies” requiring review, but CBS Minnesota reported that he did not provide evidence at that time, and there have been no official findings of fraud or irregularities in the primary results.
His campaign initially said Lindell would personally pay for a recount. By Aug. 25, however, the campaign said it was withholding the required $825,000 because it objects to the state’s planned recount parameters.
What Lindell wants counted
The core dispute is the definition of the contest to be recounted. Lindell’s campaign says state officials intend to recount only ballots cast for the two leading candidates, Lindell and Demuth, while excluding votes cast for other Republican candidates.
Lindell’s side contends that approach is too narrow. It cites a Minnesota statute describing a recount as determining the number of votes validly cast for “the office or question to be recounted,” and argues that a governor’s race recount should cover all ballots cast for that office in the Republican primary.
The campaign has asked the state to waive the payment deadline while a court decides whether the proposed scope complies with Minnesota law. That request puts the practical issue in stark terms: without an extension or another legal resolution, the statutory deadline may control whether the requested recount can proceed at all.
The state says its plan follows rules
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon’s office rejects the premise that its process is improper. Cassondra Knudson, a spokesperson for the office, said the contingent recount plan was supplied to Lindell after approval by the State Canvassing Board on Aug. 18.
According to Knudson, the plan follows Minnesota law and administrative rules and is consistent with comparable recount plans used for roughly two decades. That is an important competing claim: state officials frame the plan as an established administrative procedure, while Lindell’s campaign describes it as an unlawful limitation.
The state had already released a contingency plan for a statewide hand recount if one were requested. Under that plan, the secretary of state’s director of elections, Paul Linnell, would serve as the state recount official and could appoint deputies to oversee counts around Minnesota. The recount would be open to the public and media.
Why a recount carries a high price
Minnesota provides automatic recounts in certain close elections, but a candidate who does not meet the automatic threshold can seek a discretionary recount. In that circumstance, the apparent losing candidate must cover the projected cost up front.
The $825,000 figure reflects the scale of the request: a statewide hand recount involves local election jurisdictions, election workers, oversight and public access across Minnesota. It is not merely a request for officials to rerun a machine total.
The payment rule also serves as a gatekeeper. It requires a candidate requesting an optional recount to commit funds before the state undertakes a costly process. Lindell’s campaign says it has the money available; the dispute is over whether it should have to pay before the scope question is resolved.
Demuth remains the GOP nominee
For now, Demuth remains the Republican nominee based on the reported primary results. She is set to face Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar in the Nov. 3 general election for governor, a race to succeed retiring Gov. Tim Walz.
A recount, if authorized and completed, could confirm or alter vote totals. But the available reporting does not establish that Lindell has filed the required payment alongside a valid request, and no official finding has identified fraud or an error that would change the outcome.
The next question is procedural rather than rhetorical: whether Minnesota officials grant any flexibility on the deadline, or whether a court is asked to decide the recount’s scope. Until then, Lindell’s proposed recount remains a request backed by a claimed $825,000 payment that has not been delivered.
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