Thus it appears the contest is down to Ellison, DFL, and Wardlow, GOP, without third party effect. People who cast early voting ballots for the third party candidate can go to the ballot holder and demand to destroy the earlier ballot to revote. The process was defined as an outgrowth of the Wellstone air flight death. If a court order to authorize early ballot revision in this instance is required, presumably the DFL shall attain one.
The PiPress link.
Aside from early ballots cast for the legalize-pot candidate and the problem they present:
ALL VOTERS SHOULD NOW REALIZE THE CONTEST IS ONLY BETWEEN ELLISON AND WARDLOW WITHOUT A THIRD PARTY CHOICE PRESENTLY CONTESTING.
WRITE IN STATUS IS UNCLEAR, AS TO WHAT IS COUNTED AMONG WRITE IN VOTES, IF ANY END UP CAST.
Dave Orrick of PiPress reported in part:
Noah M. Johnson, who represents the Grassroots – Legalize Cannabis Party on the ballot, said he is throwing his support behind Ellison primarily because Ellison, a Democrat, has endorsed legalizing marijuana.
But Johnson also said he’s generally more aligned with Ellison on liberal issues and he strongly opposes several aspects of the conservative platform of Doug Wardlow, the Republican nominee. Wardlow has not endorsed legalization.
Wardlow mirrors J.B. Sessions in that throwback attitude to Nixonian "law and order" days and earlier, back to J. Edgar Hoover and the Plamer Raids.
Orrick's report continues:
The same polls that show Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party candidates with leads over Republican opponents have shown the Ellison-Wardlow race much closer — often within the margin of error. Meanwhile, one poll last month by the Minneapolis Star Tribune found about 5 percent of respondents supported Johnson — the same margin by which Ellison appeared to be leading Wardlow.
Johnson’s profile was raised when — because of that poll’s result — he was invited to participate in a three-way candidate forum hosted by Twin Cities Public Television’s “Almanac” show.
[...] “Extreme Keith Ellison” is the epithet a Wardlow TV ad uses.
Meanwhile, Democrats have attacked Wardlow for his previous legal work representing the Alliance Defending Freedom, which has sided with those opposed to gay rights.
Last week, Wardlow came under fire for telling a roomful of Republican donors [...] “We’re going to fire 42 Democratic attorneys right off the bat and get Republican attorneys in there.”
Wardlow backed off that idea after the news broke, issuing the following statement, in part: “Let me be perfectly clear: [...] There will be no litmus test for party affiliation. As Attorney General, I will protect and defend the rights of all Minnesotans.”
Johnson said those comments had no bearing on his decision to endorse Ellison.
[... Regarding Monahan allegations Johnson said] “It was certainly worth thinking about, and it’s an issue I’ve thought about a lot,” said Johnson, a criminal defense attorney who said he supports the principle of innocent until proven guilty. “If it is something he did, it’s unacceptable. … But considering the amount of harm that would come with Mr. Wardlow in office, it’s an issue of what does the least harm for all of Minnesota, without passing judgment on Ms. Monahan’s claims.”
[...] In an op-ed submission to local newspapers, Johnson said Wardlow would work in “lockstep with Donald Trump” on taxation, health care and immigration and that Wardlow would “do everything he can” to help overturn Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court case that guarantees a woman’s right to an abortion. Wardlow has said Roe is current law and that he would treat it as such.
[...] Ellison on Monday welcomed Johnson’s endorsement.
“I am honored to have the endorsement of Mr. Johnson, and agree with him and the majority of Minnesotans who believe we should legalize marijuana and enact restorative justice for nonviolent offenders,” Ellison said, in part, in a statement.
Warldow campaign manager Billy Grant issued the following statement in response to Johnson’s endorsement of Ellison: “It’s hard to see why Noah Johnson would throw his support behind Keith Ellison, who has been credibly accused of domestic violence. This endorsement shows that Keith Ellison’s campaign is seriously worried about their growing lack of support among left-leaning voters.”
[italics emphasis added] Noah Johnson phrases the choice, should any actual video surface in terms similar to those presented here, except here the conclusion is in, Ellison over Wardlow, in spite of anything new which might arise from machinations within the Parker-Wardlow-Monahan camp.
Wardlow is just too extreme, too questionable in multiple ways. Ellison is someone we know with a policy making history a hundred and eighty degrees from the Draconian things Wardlow would wish to do to organized labor, to healthcare in general in Minnesota, and to women wanting health decision freedom to be untainted by measures Wardlow supports. Add Wardlow's will to demonize LGBTQ community members, including aid in forcing one transgender woman out of her job, and he's simply bad news, all over, all ways, beyond reconsideration.