Minnesota ruling favors Franken as recount looms

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Sen. Norm Coleman has failed in an attempt to block some absentee ballots from being counted in his close race with Democrat Al Franken.

A Ramsey County judge on Saturday denied the request because of lack of jurisdiction. The incumbent Republican had tried to block 32 ballots from heavily Democratic Hennepin County.

Coleman's campaign says the ballots were not counted on Election Day or were not kept in sealed boxes. It says the request was made amid "increasing questions about unexplained and improbable shifts in vote counts."

The most recent vote tally has Coleman leading Franken by only a couple hundred votes. A recount is planned.

Comments

[dphilip]

I was devistated at losing the election at first. But I'm feeling better. Just wait and watch. The democrats are going to eat their own. Because dem's like these are going to push their over the top agenda and rhetoric on Obama and congress. Obama won't be able to give them what they want because he knows it won't fly without looking like a complete liar just months before. Then these guys are going to go nuts! Obama's already starting to back track on raising taxes because he knows it will kill the economy....You want to talk about fools...just wait and see what fools so many Obama supporters look like in 6-9 months..

[kid5rivers2]

At least they'd taste great, for they've been well done by your BushChainee over the past eight years.

[ohmetoo]

Yeah slow cooked until we are done, done, and so it the majority of the nation! DONE with the gop! And now they are attempting to burn this campaign, incredible as all the nation watches and will watch the rerun there in Minnesota!

Go AL!

[swift goat pet for truth]

"Oh, Billy Kristol, are you EVER right?"
- Jon Stewart

[anelder]

Is that you Boehner, or maybe Hannity or Limbaugh? Actually I expect Obama will resist the over the edge left and right and manage sometimes center right and left.

I'm not going to get my stem cell research ban but then I'm waiting for my church to come up with a better solution than just allowing this to drag on till the electricity fails and all these embryos expire. Problem with the whole faith based stuff is they always start int he middle and not the beginning. You don't want same sex marriages then don't have them blessed. Nothing blessed, or in my church, even recognized by a civil marriage. I'm sure you get the idea about all the others topics.

[DMcMillan]

You mean just like the Repubs are eating their own as we speak?
You mean like the Right pushed it's over the top agenda for the last eight years?
Go nuts like Bush or Cheney has with executive power grab and the Constitution?
Back track like Bush and Cheney after they find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?
The economy is dead. Obama can't kill it. Bush policies already did. You can't kill something if it's dead.
You want to talk about fools?

[dphilip]

We're off the stage now genius...You're the one's under the spotlight. All we have to do is
criticize everything you do and act as a roadbloack to progress and wait for the next election.....Democrats really do make good teachers..

[d julien]

Restoring the top tax bracket to the wealthiest Americans to where it was under Clinton will not hurt the economy. Folks with an infinite amount of money don't even know what to do with it. In the 1950's, the golden era of Dwight E. and Ozzie and Harriet that Goppers long for, the top tax rate was 90% and there was a stronger middle class than now. Obama is saying we need to get back to tax fairness. After all, a progressive income tax has been a bi-partisan idea for decades. And don't forget the many other regressive taxes, like Social Security. which burden the poor more than the rich....

[ThePublicRecord]

http://www.pubrecord.org/politics/476-more-than-80000-ballots-in-stevens-begich-senate-race-still-uncounted.html

More Than 80,000 Ballots in Stevens, Begich Senate Race Still Uncounted

Alaska’s hotly contested senate race is still up for grabs, as the number of uncounted ballots since Tuesday’s election have now doubled, state election officials said.

Alaska election officials said Friday that more than 81,000 ballots remain uncounted in the contest between Republican incumbent Ted Stevens and Democratic challenger Mark Begich, the mayor of Anchorage, who is trailing Stevens by 3,257 votes.

But the integrity of more than 18,000 ballots have been called into question by Stevens and Begich both of who are now seeking tens of thousands of dollars in donations from their supporters to pay for lawyers during a review process.

[ohmetoo]

Boy the giggery never stops with the gop, the sleigh of hand, the look the other way party.

I'm with Speakchic below, " anybody running for public office who tries to stop votes from being counted is not fit to serve this country. And Norm Coleman and other Republicans who try to use the law and courts as their way of stopping American votes from being counted should NEVER hold public office". That is why I traveled to Colorado for the last 4 days of the campaign when I learned 30,000 people were purged from voting by the Sec of State. Everyone no matter the party who is registered should have their say, PERIOD!!!!

[faithfully]

Hey, Who's in charge of Alaska?

[Fernando]

I'd like to believe that but that cannot be. Alaska only has about 100,000 registered voters, there's no way there could be 81,000 uncounted ballots.

However, there absolutely has to be an investigation since Begich was way ahead in the polls and "somehow" Stevens, a convicted felon on seven counts trailing in the polls, managed to pull it. Thank God there is a serious administration that will come in and settle this. If Bush had another term beginning January, this race would be a foregone conclusion favoring Stevens.

[Pragmatus]

Fernando--the combined vote totals for McCain and Obama in Alaska is 216,600+, so your statement about total possible votes is incorrect.
.

[Speakchic]

I could care less what people of Al Franken, I don't live in Minnesota and if their citizens deem him a credible choice then so be it. But I do feel that anybody running for public office who tries to stop votes from being counted is not fit to serve this country. And Norm Coleman and other Republicans who try to use the law and courts as their way of stopping American votes from being counted should NEVER hold public office.

If Norm Coleman wins so be it but he should be willing to let the process run itself and not intefere with any of the votes. This is why people have rejected Republicans this year b/c they are corrupt should not lead.

[sdskelton03]

32 votes just "appear" out of nowhere?

I would be skeptical as well. I wouldn't want those votes to be counted.

[mcartri]

December 2000: Five absentee votes discovered in U.S. Supreme Court, giving George W. Bush the election over Al Gore. I wouldn't want those voted to be counted.

[LiberalIncarnate]

Haven't you already been discounted on here?

[kid5rivers2]

I take it that you've had access to, therefore, have read and understood ALL the evidence that was presented? If not, please close the door...behind you as you leave.

[sueinmn]

not just 32 votes. norm has attempted to have votes not count where counting ran into the late night, hes tried st stop vote totals that were human error in the transfer from machine to state, hes attempting to surpress what ever he can to win this election. His paid staff somalia transaletor was at a voting place telling somalias to vote coleman until he was caught., hes simply just another corrupt republican this state needs to be rid of.

[swift goat pet for truth]

If you are skeptical about THAT, then you would be in heaven with the irregularities of the ALASKA vote.

[noralou]

Al is a very intelligent guy, partisan as hell, but smart. Read his books, he backs up his claims unlike the Ann Coulters and Bill O'Reillys of the published community.

He would be a great addition to the Senate -- smart and funny!!

GO AL!

[stanschurman]

Speaking of Ann Coulter we haven't heard from that wingnut about the election.....or is there a special ethereal frequency that only mad dogs and the looniest of the loony republicans can detect in order to listen to her hysterical blatherings.

[EndangeredJackalope]

You mean, radio?

[SERGIOUK]

Too true,his books are hilarious and his run-ins with Fox news would make him an ideal addition to the Senate. Eat your heart out OReilly !!!!!!!

[karma namdak]

Al should stay a comedian and author. He doesn't belong in congress.

[brownforall]

ACTUALLY NO Republican belongs in Congress!

[tbone99]

They could use a little levity , having to put up with Lieberman

[leftcoastindy]

He doesn't belong in congress based on what? your suggestion?

You do realize he knows at least 10 times as much as Sarah Palin about just about everything.

[mcartri]

Wait! Doesn't 10X0=ZERO anymore?

[yoshi99]

Eh. I think we could use a few more folks in Congress who don't take themselves so seriously.

[TheImpaler]

Your criteria for "belonging in Congress" are what?

[violimo]

FOR AL'S SAKE SOMEBODY FIND THE EXTRA 221 VOTES!!!

221,221,221,221,221221,221,221,221,221,221,221,221,221,221,221,221,221,221,221,221,221,221
221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221
221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221.221/221/221/221/221/221/221/221/221/221/221/221/221/221/221/221/221/221/221//21//2=======

[ralph10]

If Al wins this that will absolutely ice the cake.

[swift goat pet for truth]

The icing on the cake for me would be Begich over Stevens (Alaska).

[kid5rivers2]

Use another expression, pleeease! The word "ice" reminds me of...you-know-who!

[McNuts]

With two million votes cast if scanners were used there would be thousands of ballots kicked out for failure to scan for whatever reason. They must be hand counted. Al should win by a couple thousand votes if not more once the extent of the vote count fraud is discovered. Any precints that had GOP captains should receive special scrutiny.

[Mickey7]

Recount is mandatory in this case in Minnesota, so I'm not sure what Coleman thinks he's accomplishing by trying to stop the count now. All the ballots will be included in the recount after Nov 19 anyway. Maybe he just has extra campaign money (or that spare $75,000 he didn't know his wife had 'earned' from a Repub donor) he wants to get rid of.

He's in Paul Wellstone's seat. He has disgraced it long enough. Go Al!

[EndangeredJackalope]

He wants to say "I'm already the winner", so when/if he loses the recount, he can blame the "partisan political machine."

Once again, the pot calling the kettle black.

[Gidster]

Coleman has been whining all week for Franken to concede.
It appears that a recount frightens him.

[huffposeur]

although it turned out nationally that the margin between obama and mccain was so large that all the dem eforts at false registration, illegal alien voting, etc was not a factor, when franken pulls this off by just a handful of votes it will only be because of voter fraud.

[Marcozi]

uh huh. kepp saying that to yourself while weeping over another Democratic gain in the Senate.

[eileenc]

sour grapes . . .

[joshuahmcdonald]

Well, your name says it all.

[avocats]

although it turned out nationally that the margin between obama and mccain was so large that all the repub efforts at voter suppression were not a factor, when franken pulls this off by just a handful of votes it will only be because the voters of Minnesota were sick of Coleman's shady dealings and interested in an intelligent Democrat taking the seat

[LiberalIncarnate]

Interesting that we can count instances of actual voter fraud on one or two hands, while we cannot begin to count instances of election fraud.

Ofcourse, most Republicans don't know the difference.

[forthepeople1]

This would make up for that terrible Michele Bachmann in Minnesota and her anti-American comments she made during the campaign on Hard Ball. YEAH BABY!!!

That would be a consolation prize indeed! GO AL GO! We need those 60 Seats and we Need your Seat in one of those Seats in the Congress.

[SpringDoc]

And... we need your viewpoint in D.C., Al. After listening to you for as long as you were on Air America, this country needs your intellect and stability. I'm certain Senator Wellstone would be appreciative of you carrying on his tradition in D.C.

[joshuahmcdonald]

No, it wouldn't make up for Bachmann. But I still want Al to win.

[forthepeople1]

GO AL, we need 60 Seats, and 60 Seats Here We Come!

[CR46]

It's funny that in the last election when the GOP candidate was behind by approx. 3,000 votes, that the republicans wanted a recount then, but now when the count difference is just a few hundred they are fighting it!!!!

[Fernando]

It's pretty typical, Conservatives love themselves some values only when they don't get in their way.

After all, Bush and especially Cheney and Scooter Libby betrayed the American People by outing a CIA agent, back in the day people would habg for that. Funny how Bachmann never mentioned that so-un-American act.

[Gericault]

Only 221 votes seperate the two.

The numbers keep changing and always in one direction. Go Al!


http://electionresults.sos.state.mn.us/20081104/ElecRslts.asp?M=S&R=S&P=A

[All57States]

Gee, that's not suspicious at all.

[NYC07]

You're right it's not suspicious. Republicans always try to suppress the vote in their fraudulent desire to win, but in the end their cheating is always found out. It's just Republican “Business as usual"

[joshuahmcdonald]

I agree with you, although I am aware that you don't.

[Marlys]

One county clerk recorded 24 votes mistakenly when it was actually 124.
Human error does happen especially after a long grueling night.
Suspiciously NOT!
Every vote deserves to be counted!

GO AL:!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[EndangeredJackalope]

I worked at a poll station in Northern Virginia this election and even with a lot of knowledge of election fraud & machine insecurity, and healthy skepticism, it was still an eye-opener.

The County elections rover told our chief that he "expected our count to be way off." Well, she and the veteran poll workers were shocked! Why? Because we were amazingly only off by one vote! How about that!

Human and machine error is rife in elections apparently. Even when you can do a full hand recount, you're already looking at a guaranteed margin of error created by mis-filings and other dumb worker errors.

[leatherneck1971]

And for all you has been right wing republicans, whom bragged your party was going to usher in 40 years of dominance in american politics in 2004 when you won via fraud {jamming the phone lines in New Hampshire}, shennigans in Ohio, your crying about "ACRON" simply will not work this time, you tried it on Obama and lost, and people are not buying your trolls on these sites false flag issues!