The Legal Marijuana Now Party in Minnesota held its presidential primary on Tuesday, with Krystal Gabel winning by a plurality. It’s unknown if Gabel will appear on the November ballot, as she never consented to being a candidate.
Five names appeared on Tuesday’s Legal Marijuana Now Party ballot: Vermin Supreme, Rudy Reyes, Krystal Gabel, Dennis Schuller, and Edward Forchion. Gabel also withdrew her name before the primary, although her name was unable to be removed from the ballot in time. Additionally, according to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office, musician Willie Nelson was an approved write-in candidate.
According to results released by the state of Minnesota, 2,633 voters pulled a ballot, with 760 or 28.86% going to Gabel. Excluding write-in votes, Dennis Schuller came in second with 459 votes, and Vermin Supreme came in third with 397. Write-ins accounted for 484 votes, and it’s not yet known how many were cast for Willie Nelson.
| Candidate Name | Total Vote | Percentage |
| Krystal Gabel | 759 votes | 28.84% |
| Other (w)* | 484 votes* | 18.39%* |
| Dennis Schuller | 459 votes | 17.44% |
| Vermin Supreme | 397 votes | 15.08% |
| Rudy Reyes | 365 votes | 13.87% |
| Edward Forchion | 168 votes | 6.38% |
| Willie Nelson (w) | * | * |
The Legal Marijuana Now Party is one of three parties that held a presidential primary in Minnesota as part of Super Tuesday. However, its right to do so, among other things, has been contested by state Democrats in a recent legal spat surrounding the party’s recognition status.
[Editorial note] Result totals were adjusted at 3:38 PM EST on 3/6/2024 to reflect lower totals than when the article was initially posted. The Minnesota Secretary of State’s website shows a reduction in votes from 2,748 cast to 2,633 votes.
You’d be shocked at how many errors the towns and the SOTS make, not just in the initial reporting, but that make it into the final statement of vote. I’m not talking about Trump accusations of fraud. More like fat fingers, for the most part. An additional “6” or “3” added on to someone’s vote total when hitting the enter key is not uncommon. That’s mostly what downward revisions are – error correcting.
Unfortunately, I have also caught errors in the final, certified vote which have cost Libertarian and other 3rd party candidates votes. In 2012, in Connecticut, I noticed that votes for Gary Johnson, the LP US Senate candidate, and Rocky Anderson had gone from some vote total in the early returns to zeros in the final, certified vote for a couple of towns. I emailed the SOTS and she blamed the towns and said there was no way to fix it after the vote had been certified. A couple of other towns swept vote totals for cross-endorsed candidates from the minor party line into the major party line and gave the minor party zero votes. That effected the Independent and Working Families parties. It wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the election, but if it is done too much, it might have cost those parties ballot access.
It works in our favor, sometimes, too. I think it was in 2006 when the CT LP US Senate candidate, in one town, ended up with about an extra thousand votes in the certified vote because of a fat finger mistake. And according to government records, Connecticut Green Party voter registration went from 1,881 in 2007 to 19,706 in 2008 to 1,824 in 2009, so clearly another error there. But, Green voter registrations randomly dropped by about 50% in 2005 because of another mistake where the SOTS office forgot the “1” and just listed them as having 980 voter registrations.
Government office workers are very careless people who make an absurd number of mistakes and only fix some of them.
Unsure of the specific reason, but the Minnesota Secretary of State’s website shows a reduction in votes from when the article was published. The total went from 2,748 votes cast to 2,633. Individual candidates totals have also been changed. Totals above have been edited to reflect that change as of 3:38 PM EST on 3/6/2024.