MyPillow founder Mike Lindell announced Monday that he plans to seek a temporary restraining order against Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon as he continues pushing for a privately funded recount of the state’s gubernatorial primaries.
Lindell’s campaign said Simon’s office placed him in an “untenable position” by imposing restrictions on his proposed recount. Under the state’s contingent plan, the review would be limited to votes cast for Lindell and Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, the top two candidates in the Republican primary.
Demuth defeated Lindell by approximately 11 percentage points, according to Decision Desk HQ. Lindell has refused to concede the race and later alleged that irregularities appeared in the reported vote totals.
“The rest of the candidates’ vote would not be counted under their contingent plan. Nor would the Democrat ballots be recounted,” Lindell’s campaign said in its Monday statement.
The campaign argued that the restrictions were important because its alleged findings were not limited to Lindell’s contest against Demuth.
“In addition to being a violation of Minnesota state law, the anomalies on election night reporting identified by Mike Lindell’s team show an algorithm that applies to ALL of the candidates not simply Lindell and Demuth,” the statement said.
Cassondra Knudson, a spokesperson for Simon, told The Hill that the secretary of state’s office did not receive either a payment or a discretionary recount request before the Aug. 24 deadline.
Knudson said the state currently has no plans to conduct a recount of the Aug. 11 primary.
Lindell’s campaign included an authorization form in its statement that appeared to show an $825,000 transaction in progress. The campaign presented the document, dated Monday morning, as evidence of its “wire transfer readiness” to finance the proposed audit.
The campaign is now asking Minnesota officials to waive Monday’s deadline until a court can consider its claims that state law was violated.
Knudson said any “next steps” involving Lindell’s planned legal action against Simon and the Minnesota State Canvassing Board would be determined by the court.
“Our office provided the contingent recount plan to Mr. Lindell after it was approved by the State Canvassing Board on August 18,” Knudson said. “The plan follows state law and administrative rules on recount procedures and is consistent with previous recount plans.”
The legal fight comes as Lindell faces a separate financial dispute involving electronic voting system company Smartmatic. Lindell currently owes the company $56,369 in sanctions arising from a defamation lawsuit, an amount his attorneys have said he cannot afford.
Lindell accused Smartmatic during several media appearances of rigging the 2020 presidential election, echoing similar false claims made by President Donald Trump.
On Aug. 19, Lindell’s attorneys sent a letter to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan seeking permission to file a motion asking the court to reconsider the ruling that found Lindell liable for defamation.
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