Mike Lindell Files Legal Challenge Against Minnesota Election

Mike Lindell is taking his fight over Minnesota’s Republican gubernatorial primary to court, accusing state election officials of changing the terms of a potential recount just as he was preparing to pay for it.

The MyPillow CEO and former gubernatorial candidate finished second to Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth in the Aug. 11 Republican primary. Lindell lost by roughly 45,000 votes, a margin of about 11 percentage points, despite receiving an endorsement from President Donald Trump.

Because of the size of that margin, Minnesota law requires Lindell to cover the cost of the recount he requested. That price was set at $825,000, with payment due Monday, according to Alpha News.

Lindell said he was prepared to send the money.

Then, according to his account, the terms changed.

Lindell said his wire transfer was ready when “the Minnesota Secretary of State, at the last minute, changed the scope of the recount in violation of Minnesota law.”

The dispute centers on exactly what would be counted.

Lindell wanted a recount encompassing all ballots cast in the Republican gubernatorial primary. His team says election officials instead planned a process focused on votes recorded for Lindell and Demuth, even though seven Republican candidates appeared in the race.

That distinction is now at the center of his legal challenge.

Lindell's campaign argues that narrowing the recount in that fashion violates Minnesota statutes. His team also characterized the situation as a “bait-and-switch” because Lindell faced a deadline to pay $825,000 for a recount whose parameters he was simultaneously challenging.

Refusing to pay, however, created another problem: the statutory payment deadline was approaching.

“Lindell has asked the state to waive the statutory payment deadline until a court can rule on the parameters of the recount proposed by the Secretary of State,” his campaign said in a news release. “In order to address this issue, the campaign is now taking immediate legal action.”

The action, reportedly filed Monday, asks the Minnesota Supreme Court to intervene and order election officials to “conduct a full recount of all ballots cast for the office of Governor.”

The lawsuit names election officials including the State Canvassing Board, which is chaired by Democratic Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon.

Lindell had already made clear after his primary defeat that he wanted another examination of the results.

He cited what he described as election-night “anomalies,” including “unusual synchronized vote totals across all seven Republican candidates.” Lindell also claimed some counties were “reporting more votes than cast.”

Those are Lindell’s allegations, and the lawsuit now gives him a venue in which to press his arguments about the recount process.

Speaking with NBC News on Tuesday, Lindell said he ultimately refused to make the required payment after learning how officials intended to conduct the recount.

“I paid this to have all of the votes counted, not just two people,” Lindell said.

He vowed that the $825,000 price tag would not stop him from pursuing the matter.

“I need to have a real recount, and I will fight this in court and get that real recount,” Lindell said. “I don’t care if it costs triple.”

His anger was directed specifically at what he described as a last-minute alteration to the process.

“I didn’t hold back anything,” he said. “They did a bait-and-switch on me, and it’s disgusting.”