Franken Camp Calls For Investigation Of Missing Ballots

Al Franken's Senate campaign called on the Minnesota Secretary of State to launch a comprehensive investigation into the possibility of missing ballots in the state's recount election.

In a conference call with reporters on Monday, aides to the Democratic challenger said that they were growing increasingly concerned with news reports that ballots from Election Day -- which by state law must be recounted -- have gone missing.

"The number of votes counted on November 4th," said spokesman Andy Barr, "exceeds the number of ballots produced for consideration during the recount."

Marc Elias, Franken's chief lawyer, said that the campaign was not alleging foul play, noting that many of these missing ballots could be the product of administrative oversight or simple misplacement. But, with the election margin down to double digits (according to the Franken campaign's internal numbers, which they would not detail) he added that every single vote was of the utmost importance.

"[Missing ballots] should be a serious matter for cause and concern. That is why today we are calling on the Secretary of State to launch an investigation to find these ballots and make sure they are counted... to immediately instruct local elected officials to redouble their efforts to find all missing ballots," said Elias. "We know this is a close election... in an election this close we cannot let any lawful vote go uncounted."

The Coleman campaign, too, has said that reports of missing ballots should be taking seriously -- and there is little indication that these missing ballots would benefit one candidate or another. For example, on Friday, 74 ballots were discovered missing in St. Louis County, only to be found in a locked counting machine inside a warehouse. The county auditor said that the ballots contained votes for Franken and Coleman. On Thursday, meanwhile, the Center for Election Integrity MN reported that 243 ballots had gone missing in Robbinsdale County, only to be later found. Of that bunch 143 were votes for Franken, 140 for Coleman.

Those cases, however, have been successfully solved. In a memo to the Secretary of State, David Lillehaug, another attorney for the Franken campaign, claimed that there were still five missing ballots in Clay County, three in St. Louis, and 13 in Washington County.

"In an election this close," he added, "these discrepancies should be cause for serious concern to every Minnesota voter."

Comments

[nick53]

what a tardee

[LightningJoe]

In this political environment, it's rank malpractice, to supposedly "lose" ballots, in a race that's guaranteed to be recounted.

An investigation is THE LEAST that should happen.

Those in charge of elections in the state should lose their jobs over this.

Beyond that, there is NO CREDIBILITY AT ALL to reports that the ballots were lost. Ballots do not lose themselves. It's actually rather difficult to lose ballots, given the multitude of practical systems dedicated to their preservation. Lost ballots directly imply culpability, and this issue should be pursued with that in mind.

Who are the soon-to-be-former officials, whose cooperation would be necessary, for these ballots to become "lost?"

[NHGranite]

More dirty tricks from the party that just doesn't trust voters. Go ahead, blame Acorn cause it sound good - doesn't pan out, but scary. In the run off in Georgia, bunches of unsigned requests for absentee ballots show up from Republican households. People have gone to jail here (Ok, only one that I know of) but only after delays time and again in the justice department: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/100/story/23444.html so I don't think the issues here will be settled soon

[panderwatch]

Three reasons Al Franken has to win this election:

-He can draw the map of the US contiguous states by memory:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HfcrqXtxOM
-He knows how to rock (I saw his band play once at a bar owned by Belushi and Akroyd that members of SNL used to hang out in)
-He's Good Enough, He's Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Him!

[PatsyT]

Totally right on !!!!
Go Al Go !!!!!

[UltraClassic]

Oh my liberal and leftists brothers, Al's going to take this thing. Relax. His people know what they are doing.

[dphilip]

They have the "Chicago Machine" calling the plays...Re­lax

[smag]

Is that the "old time Daily" machine, the "Hoffa" type machine or the organized crime machine. Chicago = Murder capital of the US. Interesting city.

[smag]

What Al is talking about are the ballots that his walnut friends signed up. Rumor has it that they were shipped to Disney Land and Mickey is holding them.

[LightningJoe]

Keep dreaming up nonsense, since that's the only kind of sense you seem able to handle...

[hjfraser2002]

I am so proud to call myself a LIBERAL. After reading the posts on this blog from the informed left, it makes me smile. There are some very intelligent posts here. The sad thing is that i have yet to see one intelligent post by the tr0lls.

[smag]

Read your own.

[hjfraser2002]

And your point is?

[oregonideas]

robbinsdale county....­let's see now; 243 votes found; 143 for Franken and 140 for coleman. No wonder folks are concerned with the vote counting.

[Danny]

To Al Franken-- breaking news: the VERY TIGHT RACE for the French Socialist Party presidential spot has been resolved in favor of the underdog. Martine Aubry did not relent, and she beat Segolene Royal by 100 and change votes! Keep your chin up, Al. DO NOT CONCEDE until ALL the votes ARE COUNTED.

Senator Al Franken D-MN has such a nice ring to it.

[Yorksgal]

DADOG1369
"The number of votes counted on November 4th," said spokesman Andy Barr, "exceeds the number of ballots produced for consideration during the recount."

Although at first it is confusing - it actually states that more votes/ballots were cast on 11/4 than there are currently ballots/votes available for recount - so somewhere there are missing ballots.

[DADOG1369]

Any of you understand this article??? The number of balots exceed ( which means more) the number of ballots that were cast on NOV.4 Now they are stating there are missing ballots. So when the balots are found I bet I win the election. I'm only behind by 900 thousand votes, but i will make up the gap when the ballots are found.

[WSAY]

DADOG1369, read before complaining. "The number of votes counted on November 4th exceeds the number of ballots produced for consideration during the recount." That means votes are now MISSING. You must be a Republican.

[Eoin45]

He's comprehensionally challenged.

[Zofomofo]

Less votes on the recount. What more do you need?

[darthdarcy]

Why not just have a Run Off Election since this is way to fishy and make it just Coleman v. Franken..?

No one will ever trust this outcome it's gone toxic, polluted..­.non certifiabl­e...!

[trollsbwild]

The rules have been in place and there is no reason to not follow them. They have a paper trail.

Frankly, you are complaining about the outcome before it is known.

Stop whining.

[jurand]

"... 243 ballots had gone missing in Robbinsdale County, only to be later found. Of that bunch 143 were votes for Franken, 140 for Coleman." Hmm, they multiply when lost!

[montemalone]

How can the ballots "go missing" in the first place?
It would seem that those selected to be in charge of these things are incompetent.
For all the hooha one goes through to vote in the first place, you'd think they'd keep an eye on the ballots until the winner is declared.

[tre]

Lemme see here: when a democrat wins, it's the will of the people. When a Republican wins, it's election fraud.

Is that how y'all see it?

[Zingaro Zorro]

The central thought in this article is hardly summarized in the statement you made.

Do you live far from the Ozark Mountains?

[plwood01]

Obviously, any missing votes should be a concern for all Americans.­..the election process is one that our Constitution guarantees, so are we just supposed to make up a ballpark number of votes, or actually count each and every vote received? Anything "missing" is a red flag in my book! This is one of the things that is wrong in this country...­lack of accountability and transparen­cy... until this happens on a regular basis again, or the majority of the time, we have to recount, count, and recount again if necessary to make sure that the person who wins the office, is actually the person who is supposed to win the office based on the number of votes cast during the election..­.what is so hard to understand? This is exactly how Bush got into office in the first place...le­t's not do that again. That is not democracy at work, that is a debacle, a fix, paying for position, not a good clean race, whatever you want to call it, but it is not democracy and it is not justice either!

[4everdem]

Lemme see here: You are saying that missing ballots are no problem? That some how missing ballots are just democrats whining? If Coleman was losing by 100 votes and 145 ballots were missing then he should just suck it up right?

You missed the whole "democratic process" portion in civics? Every single vote deserves to be counted.

[hjfraser2002]

They reallly don't teach civics any more.

[atlantajoe]

Did the civics class say anything about counting votes that show up out of the blue? I found these ballots, all for Franken, what a surprise !

[Grunty1]

When fraud is a proven fact, like in 2000 and 2004.

You guys seem to think that counting all the ballots constitutes fraud.

[atlantajoe]

What fraud was commited in 2000 or 2004. Don't blame the repubs for the butterfly ballot.

[Spitfire67]

Yep, that's pretty much how it works.

I'm going to recheck my car to see if I can find some ballots there.

[HoraceOvidson]

No one has won or lost. Democrats and Republicans both have an interest in seeing that all the votes are counted properly, because that is what is going to make our democracy work in the long run.

[moderate1]

Im sure you'll try to make this into a conspiracy, but when you're recounting millions of ballots some are going to fall through the cracks. I'm glad that they are going to do everything to find them, but I don't see any evidence that Franken or Coleman is doing anything underhanded.

Did I read that right, by the way, 21 ballots are missing out of 2.9M? All other missing ballots have essentially come down split between the candidates. Seems like this won't make much of a difference. This almost seems like a publicity stunt by Franken to cast the specter of voter fraud when none exists to rile up the far left.

[jood42]

If Coleman hadn't sued to prevent the counting of all the ballots, there probably wouldn't be the same level of suspicion right now. All together, the evidence does support some skepticism.

[TommyObama]

Where's Sandra Day O'Connor and her 5th vote when Coleman needs her?

[Puzes]

"fall through the cracks"? which cracks? where and how did the ballots get to the cracks?

[lj9283]

It sounds like the press is only making noise about the Franken campaign's efforts. There is a "note" in the story that the Coleman campaign has made the same efforts in making sure all ballots are counted. Comon, the Main Stream Press is inherently Republican, and looking to ridicule Franken at every turn.

[hjfraser2002]

The article says both sides are looking in to it. Nobody but the press is screaming foul.