Good morning!  Come watch a taping of TPT’s Almanac at the MPR booth if you’re at the fair today. It’s at 11 a.m.

Minnesota elections officials warn that initiating a governor’s race primary recount now could delay production of ballots for the general election. New filings with the Minnesota Supreme Court offer a behind-the-scenes look at how Mike Lindell tried to make a late play to get an expansive recount in his wide primary loss to Lisa Demuth. He went back-and-forth over days and had multiple contacts with the Secretary of State’s Office staff about the scope of a potential recount at his expense. In the end, he never wired the money nor made a qualifying request. Now he’s seeking Supreme Court intervention. On Wednesday, state attorneys said it’s too late. They say not only did he miss the statutory deadline, but his request for intervention is threatening the readiness for the general election. The ballot printing process starts on Sept. 3, about two weeks before early voting begins. As we’ve written before, the Supreme Court tends to move quickly in cases like this. Expect a ruling soon.

We’re less than two weeks out from the rare midterm national party convention, staged at President Donald Trump’s request by the Republican National Committee. The two-day event in Dallas , which the party is making no secret will be centered around Trump, is an attempt to galvanize the base in a year when the headwinds are blowing hard. Minnesota is sending a 45-member delegation. State party leaders have been mum about who that will be. There will be more than 100 speakers over the two nights. Again, no word on if any Minnesota candidates or elected officials will be among them. Best bet is House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, but his campaign hasn’t responded to messages about it. Democrats are just excited about this convention because it’s a way for them to attach Trump to candidates this year. Vice President JD Vance closes out night one and President Trump is the capstone on night two.

DFL state Sen. Grant Hauschild, facing a tough reelection fight, is out with a TV ad for his campaign, focusing on data centers. Featuring his family, the ad touts Hauschild’s support for data center regulation and claims Hauschild will “stand up to Big Tech.” Hauschild lives in Hermantown, where the data center debate is so feisty that some people were escorted out by police at a meeting over the Google proposal last week. His race is a rematch against Republican Andrea Zupancich, the mayor of Babbitt who lost to Hauschild by just over 700 votes four years ago. Television and digital ads in legislative races have become slightly more common, but candidates for these offices often prefer mail and face-to-face contacts. The fact Hauschild is running ads underscores his solid fundraising and a turn-over-every-rock strategy in what could again be a close race with chamber majority implications.

A federal judge ruled the state board of architecture overstepped when it tried to fine a well-known Minnesota engineer for calling himself a “professional engineer” when his license lapsed. Charles Marohn, who founded the urban planning advocacy group Strong Towns, has been in a years-long legal battle with the Minnesota Board of Architecture, Engineering, Land Surveying, Landscape Architecture, Geoscience and Interior Design (a name just as difficult to say in acronym form: AELSABID). As Max Nesterak with the Minnesota Reformer explains, the board investigated Marohn for calling himself a “professional engineer” during a period where his state license had lapsed. A federal judge decided this month that the First Amendment allowed Marohn to call himself a professional engineer as long as he wasn’t actually practicing engineering, which he wasn’t. Marohn maintains he was targeted by the board for sharply criticizing car-centric suburban sprawl, an accusation the board denies. In the end Nesterak says, this may set a precedent that restrains state boards from this kind of eagle-eyed oversight over professional titles.

Property tax increases are on the horizon across the Twin Cities metro. Sofia Barnett and Sarah Ritter at the Star Tribune looked at counties and cities across the metro area and found many feel forced to increase property taxes to accommodate state and federal funding changes. The increases under consideration range from about 6 percent to 21 percent, with Dakota County considering the highest increases. Dakota County officials say even with a bumped up property tax rate the county could have to make cuts to services. New Medicaid work requirements could require the county to add up to 70 employees and the federal government is halving its share of SNAP administrative costs. However, taxpayers should keep in mind levy percent increases don’t directly translate to tax increases because each property’s bill depends on its value relative to other local taxable properties. In Hennepin County, a 7 percent levy increase would add an estimated $111 to the annual county property tax bill for a median-valued single-family home.

This winter tens of thousands of Minnesotans mobilized to monitor ICE agents and deliver food to scared neighbors, and now political organizers are tapping into those networks. As Joey Peters with Sahan Journal reports, the local Latino advocacy group Unidos MN is repurposing its organizing during Operation Metro Surge to prepare for November’s election. Unidos trained around 50,000 ICE observers last year on how to legally document and protest federal immigration raids through its constitutional-defense campaign called Monarca. Now Unidos is hosting what it calls “Monarca Democracy Defense” trainings around the state — about 40 so far. Unidos has long done election outreach. However, this new approach involves encouraging people to create their own hyperlocal networks and gaming out hypothetical election scenarios like possible federal interference