Another GOP Voter Fraud Hoax - the 103 Dinkytown Ballot Fantasy

From my favorite source of what propaganda is circulating on the right at any given time:

Pay No Attention To The Fraud Behind The Curtain
By Mitch Berg
"This email, from a GOP election recount-watcher, has been making the rounds of local conservative activists. I’m keeping the writer’s name off the record for now. "

Of course the original writer's name is off the record! I would be surprised if it is ever attached to the 'record'.
Because the story isn't true. If his name were on the record, the source, a GOP candidate by one report, not merely a recount watcher, could be held accountable for this hoax, this right wing example of disinformation. If it came from a real source, not this kind of anonymous circulation, the disinformation wouldn't work nearly as well. Readers would have recourse to complain, to challenge.


On the preceding day, Tuesday November 30th, in reference to the very same Hennepin County Recount, from over at Penigma blog roll blog Centrisity, our friend Flash noted:

Yes, That's Her!
Yes, that;s [sic] my sister leaning over the table on the front page of the Strib. Both her and my mom participated in the recount efforts, yesterday.

Which made it the simple matter of sending off an email to inquire, asking Flash to please pass on my inquiry to his mom and sister, to check with someone who was there if they saw anything remotely like this. They didn't. We KNOW that they were really there, unlike the anonymous source Mitch used, thanks to the front page photo heading the STrib article, over the caption :

"Dan Decker, representing Tom Emmer, left, and Linda Freemon, right, representing Mark Dayton, closely looked through ballots as recount judges counted them at the Hennepin County Government Center."

Governor's Recount - and recounting the Challenges, by Elizabeth Flores, Star Tribune

Mitch goes on to share from his official GOP candidate source:

For instance, we found one precinct with ALL Dayton ballots challenged (103 total) that appeared to be a “mass” group of blank ballots run thru without a judge’s signature – all in a row. Shows how easily certain folks of a party’s persuasion can cheat so easily – and have it counted?

I wasn't at the Hennepin recount, but others who can verify the recount were - like Flash's sister and mom. Like TheUPTAKE.org video of the recount. I couldn't find anyone from the GOP or Emmer campaign either that would support this story, officially. There is a good reason for that.
This is a LIE. This is a FALSE story. This is a HOAX. ANOTHER Voter Fraud HOAX.


But Mitch Berg, at Shot in the Dark, goes on to give it his approval, endorsement, and authority, promoting this false voter fraud story as if it were true when he writes, with added emphasis:

Let’s repeat that for those of you who glaze over: 103 votes, run through in a group, without a judge’s signature, apparently consecutively.

But one doesn't have to rely on that information either. Because our excellent Secretary of State's office also made the copies of ballots that were challenged available online, so you could see for yourself, because those challenged ballots became matters of public record. We are so lucky that we have this kind of transparency in our elections, and from our Secretary of State, the re-elected Mark Ritchie.

You don't have to rely on false accounts from the GOP about what was or was not on them.

2010 Gubernatorial Recount Challenged BallotsPrint E-mail ..Challenged Ballots (not deemed frivolous)


Ballots challenged by the gubernatorial candidate representatives are copied and forwarded to the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State. The copies of the ballots are scanned and uploaded to this website. Images are added each business day at 4:00 p.m. Click on each county to access images of that county’s challenged ballots.


Please note: No ballots were challenged in the following counties: Big Stone, Clearwater, Cook, Freeborn, Hubbard, Kittson, Koochiching, Lac Qui Parle, Lake of the Woods, Mahnomen, Martin, Meeker, Pennington, Pine, Pope, Red Lake, Redwood, Sibley, Stevens, Swift, Wilkin, Yellow Medicine.


View Challenged Ballot Images and either see specific county PDFs, or access the complete set as a single zip file located at the bottom of the directory.


List of Challenges Withdrawn by Dayton PDF


Hamilton Letter 12/07/2010 PDF


List of Challenges Withdrawn by Emmer PDF


Magnuson Letter 12/07/2010 PDF


Attempted Challenged Ballots Deemed Frivolous


After the campaign's withdrawals on Dec.7, less than 30 attempted challenged ballots deemed frivolous remain. The State Canvassing Board must still decide if and when any attempted challenges that were deemed frivolous and not withdrawn will be considered for review.


While most of these attempted challenges have now been withdrawn, to the extent that copies of the ballots were made before the originals were re-stored securely in sealed envelopes, they are public data. [my emphasis - DG]
View challenged ballots deemed frivolous as either specific county PDFs, or as a complete set as a single zip file located at the bottom of the directory. Images are added each business day at 4:00 p.m., if additional copies or scans of ballots are received. Please note that Dayton withdrew all of his campaign’s ballot challenges that were deemed frivolous prior to the county officials making copies.


Thirty-five counties had ballots with attempted challenges by Emmer deemed frivolous by deputy recount officials. The following counties had one or more ballots with attempted challenges deemed frivolous: Aitkin, Anoka, Blue Earth, Brown, Carver, Chippewa, Chisago, Crow Wing, Dakota, Dodge, Fillmore, Goodhue, Hennepin, Isanti, Itasca, Jackson, Kanabec, Kandiyohi, Martin, Meeker, Mower, Norman, Olmsted, Pine, Renville, Rice, Rock, Roseau, Saint Louis, Scott, Sherburne, Stearns, Wabasha, Washington, Wright.

The Dinkytown ballot challenges were all considered frivolous, and they were withdrawn, all 103. There was never an issue over blank ballots that were for Dayton.

There was, if one bothered to check, one challenged ballot that is blank except for the governor's race, although there may have been other votes on the reverse side, from Hennepin county. ONE. In the legitimately challenged ballots, not a frivolous ballot and not from Dinkytown.

As of this writing, well after the recount had finished, and Emmer lost, my friend Mitch over at SitD still believes this demonstrably false story of voter fraud, still supports it on his blog. And still hasn't fact checked it at all. He is planning, maybe, on asking his source about it. I doubt that he will correct his original story, or fact check it. Just like he doesn't fact check his other voter fraud hoax stories before posting them; just like he doesn't correct them when they turn out to be false.

Because the right - or at least a segment of it - only cares about a narrative that supports their conspiracy theories. They don't WANT facts. They want fiction, ugly fiction. They want to govern on the basis of fiction, not facts, regarding voters and voter fraud. And they want to hide the identities of the GOP candidates and officials who start these stories whenever they can.

Because this is a pattern, and not an isolated incident, I expose it here. The pattern is not unique or specific to Minnesota. It occurs in every state where the GOP thinks they can persuade their base to believe them about voter fraud without critical thought or fact checking.

Too bad; it ultimately weakens the GOP, and in the end has a destructive effect on the very process of government that makes this country so wonderful. It is ultimately UN-patriotic of them to lie like this about our electoral process. It is a dishonest and dishonorable way to treat other political parties and candidates.

I hope Penigma readers will begin to push back against those hoaxes, regardless of their political positions.
Unless you are proud of your birthers, your tenthers, your truthers, and your voter fraud hoaxers? They're nothing to be proud of, for anyone, of any political affiliation.