The leftwing socialist Minnesota DFL party has just revoked its endorsement of mayoral candidate Omar Fateh, citing errors in his victory over current mayor Jacob Frey at the convention.
Here’s more via MSN:
The Minnesota DFL has revoked the Minneapolis arm of the party’s endorsement of Minnesota state Sen. Omar Fateh in the Minneapolis mayoral race.
Last month, in an upset, Fateh won the Minneapolis DFL endorsement over incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey.
On Thursday, Minnesota DFL chair Richard Carlbom said, “After a thoughtful and transparent review of the challenges, the Constitution, Bylaws & Rules Committee found substantial failures in the Minneapolis Convention’s voting process on July 19, including an acknowledgement that a mayoral candidate was errantly eliminated from contention.”
Carlbom added, “Now it’s time to turn our focus to unity and our common goal: electing DFL leaders focused on making life more affordable for Minnesotans and holding Republicans accountable for the chaos and confusion they’ve unleashed on Minnesotans.”
Frey’s campaign earlier this month submitted a challenge to the state DFL over Fateh’s endorsement. The campaign said there was an “extraordinarily high” number of uncounted votes produced by the “highly flawed and untested” electronic voting system used at the convention.
The state DFL investigation found nearly 200 votes missing, that the check-in sheet was left unsecured and the entire Ward 5 credentials book was lost.
Because of those findings, the Minneapolis DFL is not allowed to endorse a candidate for mayor this year and it has been placed on a two-year probation.
The Minnesota DFL also ruled that all candidates get access to the party’s voter rolls. Usually, only the endorsed candidate gets that information.
After the Minnesota DFL’s announcement, Frey’s campaign released the following statement: “I am proud to be a member of a party that believes in correcting our mistakes, and I am glad that this inaccurate and obviously flawed process was set aside. I look forward to having a full and honest debate with Senator Fateh about our city’s future, with the outcome now resting squarely where it should — with all the people of Minneapolis.”