Judge orders Minnesota 2nd congressional district election to be held in November, appeal is next
Democratic Rep. Angie Craig is running Republican challenger Tyler Kristner in the Minnesota CD-2 race. (FOX 9)
(FOX 9) - A federal judge has ordered Minnesota's second congressional district election back to November, the latest shakeup in the race after a third-party candidate's death.
The Sept. 21 death of Legal Marijuana Now party candidate Adam Weeks triggered a state law that voids all votes in that congressional race in November and forces a special election on Feb. 9. Democratic U.S. Rep. Angie Craig sued to move the congressional district election back to November.
U.S. District Court Judge Wilhelmina M. Wright ruled Friday afternoon that Craig was likely to win her argument that federal law requiring congressional elections in November would preempt the Minnesota law.
"This is an enormous victory for the people of the Second District, who will still have an opportunity to make their voices heard in this election," Craig said in an emailed statement.
But the legal uncertainty is far from over: Republican challenger Tyler Kistner quickly said he would appeal Wright's ruling.
"Numerous voters have reached out to our campaign and stated that they did not vote in the 2nd District race because they were told their vote would not be counted on November 3rd," Kistner said in a statement. "Additionally, we canceled numerous TV and digital advertising buys, and refrained from sending out voter contact mailings."
Secretary of State Steve Simon learned of Wright's ruling during a live radio interview Friday afternoon.
“The state of the law is that race is going forward," Simon said on WCCO Radio. "So everyone who lives in the second congressional district as of right now, as of today, please continue to vote in that contest.”
Minnesota's law, enacted in 2013, requires a February special election anytime a major-party candidate dies within 79 days of the general election. The Legal Marijuana Now party is a major party in Minnesota after one of its candidates got more than 5 percent of the vote in the 2018 state auditor's race.
Under Minnesota's law, Craig would've had to give up the congressional seat in January. It would have been vacant until the results of the February special election were certified.
Simon's lawyer argued in court this week that an election between living candidates and a dead one was not sufficient to send a representative to Congress. Kistner, the Republican challenging Craig, intervened on Simon's behalf.
What can voters do?
Thousands of people in the second congressional district -- which spans from Scott and Dakota counties to Red Wing -- have voted since Weeks's death. Some number of them likely did not vote in this race after being told it would not count.
Under Minnesota law, voters can request a new ballot and re-vote, but they must do so before Oct. 20, 14 days before Election Day.
Usually the claw-back period extends until seven days before the election, but Minnesota lawmakers gave election officials an extra week to count a flood of absentee ballots this year, and in doing so, shortened the claw-back period by the same week.