A candidate who narrowly lost his bid for the Sixth Ward seat in the Minneapolis City Council election last week filed a request Monday for a recount with the city clerk's office.
Mohamud Noor, who received 47 percent of the vote, lost to incumbent Abdi Warsame, who finished with 50 percent in a highly contentious race.
The unofficial margin of victory for Warsame was 239 votes.
Election results will be certified Wednesday by the City Canvassing Board.
On Monday, Noor said he is asking for every ballot, including early and absentee votes, to be recounted.
"We won every precinct and we want to assure ourselves that every ballot is counted," he said. "You never know what happened."
Warsame could not be immediately reached for comment.
In the formal request filed Monday, Noor wrote: "I am seeking to review all voted ballots that were not counted in the official canvass, including unopened rejected vote-by-mail ("VBM"), in person absentee voting, undervotes or partially defective, totally defective, or spoiled ballots and any other materials related to uncounted or rejected ballots."
Noor supports ranked-choice voting, but he said that a small number of votes could tip the scale.
On Wednesday, Noor posted a message on Facebook accusing Warsame's campaign of violating Election Day and campaigning laws.
"Last night we won in every precinct and earned twice as many votes as our opponent. Despite this, our opponent currently holds a small lead which we believe resulted from alleged illegal behavior including bringing voters from outside Minneapolis to participate in our elections, and campaigning at multiple poll locations. Many locations had more people voting from that address than could lawfully occupy the residence," Noor wrote. "We will fight to make sure every vote is counted, and the numerous irregularities that were reported are fully investigated."
Karen Zamora • 612-673-4647
Twitter: @KarenAnelZamora
