Way back in November, when Norm Coleman was calling upon Al Franken to concede the Senate race, one of the reasons he cited was the expense. “It’s up to him whether such a step is worth the tax dollars it will take to conduct,” Norm said at the time, saying that he would have stepped aside if he had been in Franken’s position.
But take a look at this number: Secretary of State Mark Ritchie has told Time that a new election, for which Coleman is increasingly angling, would cost $3.5-5 million — and the state is already trying to fix a multi-billion dollar budget deficit. “It’s pure fantasy, pure baloney,” said Ritchie.
Also consider that at the time Coleman was saying the state had to be spared the expense of a recount, Ritchie estimated that it would cost nearly $90,000. Deputy Secretary of State Jim Gelbmann just told TPM that the recount proper ultimately came in above estimates, at $120,000. This puts us in the low single-digits as a percentage of the cost of a new election.
Also, the state has to pay more after the recount proper, as a result of Coleman’s lawsuit to overturn Franken’s margin. In the time time since Coleman brought the election contest, the Secretary of State’s office has put in another $55,000. And Gelbmann is sure that local election officials throughout the state and the courts have cumulatively had to put in far more than the total $175,000 that his own office has paid during the two periods.
Still, this doesn’t sound like much compared to that price tag on a new election.
