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Archive for November, 2008

Franken v. Coleman: Daily Updated Recount Tally

Posted by draabe on 20 November, 2008

16 December 2008:

With Coleman leading by fewer than 200 votes in an unfinished race, the Minnesota State Canvassing Board begins reviewing challenged ballots December 16. Secretary of State Mark Ritchie hopes to conclude the count by December 19, however, with the matter of incorrectly rejected absentee ballots unsettled at this point, this goal may not be realistic.

Counties were given the authority to accept the incorrectly rejected ballots but the Coleman campaign has filed litigation to block this procedure. State law dictates that in a race this close, as many ballots as possible should be allowed into a (re)count to insure that the majority of voters’ intentions are taken into consideration.

The number of challenged ballots to be reviewed has been reduced to approximately 1,500 (500 challenged by Franken, 1,000 challenged by Coleman). Although the challenged ballots have been made available online through this link, viewers should understand that there could be markings unseen on the online photographs that could render a ballot invalid should the Canvassing Board judge validity as well as voter intent. 

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Percentage of Ballots Recounted: 99.93%
Percentage of Precincts Recounted: 99.98 %

Franken recounted votes as of 5 December 2008: 1,207,657 (as of 4 November 2008: 1,210,285)
Coleman recounted votes as of 5December 2008: 1,208,344 (as of 4 November 2008: 1,210,995)

Ballots challenged by Franken campaign as of 5 December 2008: 3,280
Ballots challenged by Coleman campaign as of 5 December 2008: 3,375

VIEW THE CHALLENGED BALLOTS HERE.

Coleman is leading by 687 votes with 1 precinct left to count. There are 6,655 challenged ballots (excluding the challenges withdrawn by the Franken campaign and a large number of challenges that are expected to be drawn by the Coleman campaign). Additionally, there are 131 missing ballots from Ward 3 Precinct 1.

Each of the  6,655 challenged ballots could be rendered invalid, returned to the candidate for whom they were first counted or could go to the other candidate. Deputy Secretary of State Jim Gelbmann gave the campaigns until the end of the day Wednesday, Dec. 3 to advise him as to which challenges they intend to withdraw. The Franken campaign stated its intention to withdraw  at least 633 of its challenged ballots. The Coleman campaign said it “is willing to withdraw challenges,” but has yet to do so and has missed the deadline set by the Off ice of the Secretary of State. 

Franken’s net gain: 23 votes (excluding challenged and missing ballots)

Source: MN Secretary of State
(Results not official until verified by the State Canvassing Board)

Additional Recount News:

*December 3: The Franken campaign will withdraw 633 of its challenged ballots and could withdraw even more according to lead recount attorney, Marc Elias. The Coleman campaign said it “is willing to withdraw challenges,” but has yet to take any steps in that direction.

December 2: Franken gained a net 37 votes after 171 uncounted ballots were found stuck in a machine in Maplewood’s 6th District. The Secretary of State’s office has requested an explanation as to how the votes were missed.

On November 26, the State Canvassing Board denied the Franken campaign’s request to include rejected absentee ballots in the recount. However, County Boards were given the option to include rejected absentee ballots at their discretion. It is still unclear whether some rejected absentee ballots will be counted or not.

Also see: Citizens for Election Integrity – MN and MN Progressive Project

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Franken v. Coleman: Recount Update

Posted by draabe on 19 November, 2008

Boxes of ballots in Anoka County

Boxes of ballots in Anoka County (Courtesy Curtis Gilbert/MPR)

At the time of this writing, 15.9% of the votes have been officially recounted in Minnesota’s US Senate race between Norm Coleman (R) and Al Franken (D). The Coleman campaign has gone from 195,708 votes as of November 4, to 195,638 votes. The Franken campaign recount reports 180,923 votes, compared to 180,950 on November 4. The Coleman campaign challenged 115 ballots today; the Franken campaign challenged 106 ballots. See the Minnesota Secretary of State’s website for a full accounting of the votes recounted today, which resulted in a net gain of 43 votes for Franken excepting the challenged ballots. (See here for daily updated tally.)

In other recount news, Judge Dale B. Lindman has granted an Order for Temporary Restraining Order and Temporary Injunction in response to a Motion filed by attorney David Lillehaug on behalf of the Franken campaign.  Lillehaug had specifically requested “the names and addresses of all persons who submitted absentee ballots in connection with the general election of November 4, 2008, but whose absentee ballots were rejected or otherwise not counted” from Ramsey County Elections Manager Joseph Mansky, pursuant to the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, Minn. Stat. Ch. 13 (2008). Judge Lindman concluded that the names of voters who submitted an absentee ballot return envelope, the envelopes of absentee ballots that have not been opened by an election judge and other data must be made available to the Franken campaign for inspection and/or copying.

Although there has been no decision made on whether the rejected absentee ballots will be allowed to be counted as part of the recount, the ruling is a victory for the Franken campaign, which hopes to convince the State Canvassing Board to allow some, if not all, of the ballots to be counted.

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Franken v. Coleman: The Recount

Posted by draabe on 14 November, 2008

Norm Coleman, Al Franken (Courtesy Jaime Chismar)

Norm Coleman, Al Franken (Courtesy Jaime Chismar)

Minnesotans still do not know who they will send to the U.S. Senate in January – Al Franken or Norm Coleman. With a mere 206 votes standing between the two candidates, Minnesota law requires a recount which is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, November 20, one day after the State Canvassing Board certifies the machine count.

Sitting on the Canvassing Board are Secretary of State Mark Ritchie (D), two Republican State Supreme Court Justices appointed by Governor Tim Pawlenty (Eric Magnusson and G. Barry Anderson), Ramsey County Chief Judge Kathleen Gearin and her deputy, Judge Edward Cleary who was appointed by Independent Governor Jesse Ventura in 2002. Ritchie explicitly stated that the Board would be acting in a nonpartisan way with regard to the recount.

Read more…

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2008 ELECTION RESULTS: MINNESOTA

Posted by draabe on 5 November, 2008

coleman_franken2

US Senate: Norm Coleman-R 42% (Franken-D 41%) (Barkley-IP 15%). NO WINNER DECLARED. (See here for details on the recount.)

The Senate race was close with Franken leading much of the time. Joe Bodell at Minnesota Campaign Report had this to say around midnight:

“I’ve looked at the remaining Senate numbers — and there’s reason for optimism for Al Franken.

Many votes are left to count in the Fifth and Eighth congressional districts — this should favor Franken considerably going forward. With about 80% counted, the fact that so many of the remaining 20% are from the two heaviest-DFL-index congressional districts in the state should help.

Nevertheless, there’s a strong chance at this point that there will be a statewide recount, unless one of the candidates puts a little daylight between himself and his opponent.”)

1:00 a.m. (CST) with 90% of precincts reporting, the Senate race is virtually tied at 42%. (Exit polling gave Franken the win by 4%; MN Secretary of State reports Coleman with 1,128,886 votes and Franken with 1,117,043; MSNBC shows a difference of just 78 votes between the two candidates; and DailyKos reports a difference of about 3,000 votes.)

2:17 a.m. (CST):  Franken leading by 1,000 votes.

7:00 a.m. (CST) UPDATE: Coleman ahead with 99% of precincts reporting; Coleman 1,210,790 / Franken 1,210,028. (MSNBC); The Minnesota Secretary of State shows Coleman with 1,209,247 and Franken with 1,210,124 (6:43 a.m. CST); 99.78% of precincts reporting.

*THE RACE IS CLOSE ENOUGH TO GENERATE AN AUTOMATIC RECOUNT WHICH WILL BEGIN THIS MONTH. NORM COLEMAN HAD BEEN DECLARED THE WINNER BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BUT THEY HAVE RECALLED THAT DECISION.

US Congress

District 01: Walz-D (Davis)
District 02: Kline-R (Sarvi)
District 03: Paulsen-R (Madia)
District 04: McCollum-D (Matthews)
District 05: Ellison-D (White)
District 06: Bachmann-R (Tinklenberg)
District 07: Peterson-D (Menze)
District 08: Oberstar-D (Cummins)

Incumbent Keith Ellison won handily, as did fellow Democrats Tim Walz, Betty McCollum, Collin Peterson and Jim Oberstar. Paulsen (R) and Bachmann (R), who won by much narrower margins, can thank the Independence Party challengers for upsetting their races just enough to push them into the lead.

Land and Legacy Amendment: Yes 58.54% (No 41.46%)
Outdoors and Arts Amendment: Yes 55.6% (No 39.3%)

Voter turnout in Minnesota was estimated at 77.91% according to the Secretary of State‘s office.

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