The folks at Minnesota Spring and Suspension have never seen this kind of traffic. Outside their office was parked an immense white truck topped with a satellite dish and “CNN” in red lettering on the doors. A truck from KARE-11 sprouted a microwave pole that towered well above the low-slung warehouse building. There were wires all over the sidewalk, and a steady stream of people into the unit next door - warehouse space maintained by the city of Minneapolis. It was perhaps the most popular of 50 places across Minnesota that began a recount of the U.S. Senate race.

Inside 732 Harding Street NE, fleets of electronic voting machines - their work done - were parked. The work would now fall to the humans, who sat at tables near the front of the warehouse, their fingers and eyes ready. Dani Connors-Smith with the city of Minneapolis’s election office tore open the sealed envelopes of ballots, launching the recount. Another worker carried the stacks of ballots to the seated stack-makers.

Cindy Reichert, the city’s election director, had to herd the camera crews and reporters out of the no-go zone for anyone but the election counters and the candidate representatives.

“The tape on the floor is there for a reason,” she said. “Please keep all cameras behind that line.”

As more observers drifted into the warehouse, a worker carried two worn-out-looking truck springs into the door of the business next door.

The people inside Minnesota Spring and Suspension hadn’t heard what the fuss was all about. “It’s kind of a good thing,” said Pam Lubansky, owner of Minnesota Spring and Suspension, when I told her what was going on. “When it’s that close, I can see why you want to recount.” And then, she said, idealistically, maybe the result will be accepted by both sides.

Lubansky started her business of selling and fixing truck suspensions in her home. Now she has space in this warehouse on Harding Street NE, named for the nation’s 29th president. But they don’t talk politics in the office, she said.

“There can be arguments,” she said. There’s no place for that when there are trucks riding on your business.

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