Franken Wins Major Victory In Absentee Count

Al Franken received a potentially major boost towards his hopes of becoming Senator on Friday, when Minnesota state officials ruled that absentee ballots rejected because of clerical or administrative errors should, in the end, be counted.

The decision by the state canvassing board -- which was unanimous -- is, essentially, an official request for county officials to go back and count the wrongfully rejected absentee votes. This process has already begun in many counties and could portend sizeable gains for Franken.

The Democratic challenger has spent the past few weeks demanding that the state review the approximately 1,500 absentee ballots that they contend were unlawfully dismissed. Many of these votes have come from traditionally Democratic locales where, for one reason or another, voters are more likely to make clerical errors when completing their ballots.

The state has set December 19th as the end date for the sorting and counting of this absentee ballot pool (hardly a restrictive time frame for completing the task). The Coleman campaign retains the right to appeal the decision to a district or state court.

With the hand recount over in the state's Senate race, Franken's campaign claims to be clinging to a four-vote lead. This count, however, assumes that none of the challenges to ballots during the recount process will be upheld. In short: the race is incredibly tight. The inclusion of this pool of rejected absentee ballots could very well push Franken into the Senate.

UPDATE: The Franken campaign got more good news from the canvass board hearing. The state had, during the recount process, been unable to locate 133 ballots from the Minneapolis area. But rather than disregarding these votes, officials decided that they will use the results from Election Day.

Comments

[huffyfan2]

Now, people in Minn. know how we felt here in WA state 4 years ago. We didn't know for moths who are new Gov. would be.

[myclarity]

and look how poorly that turned out...

[jillsond]

Wow. We're getting a great preview of the energy level Franken will bring to the senate. Go Franken!

[jazzman]

I hear Coleman is going to court to contest the counting of absentee ballots that are deemed eligible by the canvassing board. What is their argument?

"Judge, even though these are legitimate votes cast by legitimate voters, you cannot allowed these ballots to be counted. To do so would be to let the voters actually decide. We cannot allow this."

[BlueIndependent]

Man am I ready for this particular race to be over. I of course want Al to take it, but man alive. Will this go down as the closest election in state or national history? Potentially 4-137 votes separating the candidates?

[GotRights]

Washington Governor Christine Gregoire was elected in 2004 by a 129-vote margin.

In New Hampshire in 1974, Senate candidate Louis Wyman emerged from a recount as the winner -- by 2 votes. After a six-week battle in the Senate over which candidate to seat, a new election was called and Wyman won by about 27,000 votes.

http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Closest_election_in_Senate_history.htm

[deeppeace]

If not closest, certainly one of the longest. Good thing Senate terms are six years. If this were a House election, they'd be campaigning again already!

Go Al!

[bygollymissmolly]

Wow, that's good news. The canvassing board decided to count every valid ballot. What a concept!

Now, if Franken wins, so be it. If Coleman wins, also so be it. Just as long as all the votes were counted.

[nellie]

Agree absolutely.

[jdmccl]

No matter the same ballots were rejected the first time for errors. So the Dems can't fill out the ballots right? if they are stupider and can even cast a vote correctly, then get counted, MN will replace Fl for the dumbest voters in the union.

[Eoin45]

To see dumb, look in the mirror. The errors were made by the counters not the voters. Took your stupid pills again today eh?

[Grunty1]

The reason these ballots are in court is because there was no good reason for their rejection, genius.

Is our children learning?

[lj9283]

Coleman has challenged as many ballots as Franken, so many we have stupid and stupid, huh?

http://electionresults.sos.state.mn.us/20081104/SenateRecount.asp

Or maybe we should have a Katherine Harris recount where they only have to reject the democratic challenges.

[milo h minderbinder]

How could I forget?

Of course, ad Ahnold to the "d list".

[milo h minderbinder]

That's odd...obviously this should be a response to a post below...

[baptox]

Yes, Al! Good guys sometimes win and (less frequently) are allowed their rightful victories! There is hope in the democratic process after all. Thanks for fighting this valuable fight, Al!

[mikekopac]

what do you mean?

[milo h minderbinder]

I mean that you have to be extremely careful when you make homemade bacon or else you risk botulism.

[Grunty1]

LOL!

[Mutande]

It they have a coin toss, Coleman will probably try to keep it.

[MOtropolis]

hahaha, great joke....I don't know what's worse, this guys rap sheet or those who who actually voted for him.

[booboo111]

His teeth should be enough to invalidate him.

[GOPstandardtx]

It speaks volumes about the people of Minnesota that Franken even got this close.

The man is a joke and has failed at everything he has tried in life. A total clown show.

Minnesota will not stop with this nonsense until Franken wins this election.

Sad.

[doctorwang]

LOL !!

[milo h minderbinder]

"failed at everything he has tried in life"

You mean OTHER than winning three emmys and having three books reach number one on the bestseller list?

Really, there are ways to express that you don't like the man without coming off as ignorant.

[kburlz]

Yeah, SNL crashed and burned in no time flat.

[deepBlueCA]

"...failed at everything he has tried in life."

REALLY?

Perhaps you're unaware that he's a Harvard graduate, a multimillionaire, a well-known TV personality, an author, and... he got a perfect score on his math SATs!

[Missmn]

I'm sorry. What universe do you live in? Al Franken has pretty much succeeded at everything he's tried. I'm sure he'll succeed at legislating as well.

With regard to "this nonsense," there is no reason to stop until the process is completed, which is next Friday - depending on how many legal challenges Norm Coleman puts up.

[CR46]

Every legititimate absentee ballot SHOULD be counted!!!

[LiberalBuzz]

Keep fighting Al!!

[den1953]

Well i'm from PA BL Cinn we must be somewhere between China & Mexico with our wages cause we aren't on the friggin list at all hum who the hell is my senator? No matter i just won't vote the hell with it!

[BLinCincinnati]

23) Pennsylvania (D) - $48,148

I left off the middle ones due to word limits. Penn is just above the national median income.

[frappe]

Why there was any resistance or controversy in counting these absentee ballots in the first place is surprising. After all, the absentee voters did everything that they were supposed to do. They crossed every "T" and dotted every "i" as required, and yet they were going to be punished by not having their legitimate votes counted because of an administrative or clerical error on the part of someone else?! I think not! That is absolutely ridiculous and unfair. And every single one of those votes should be counted without another moment's thought. And if any of the counties refuse to recount those ballots as requested, they should be exposed and ridiculed for their indefensible behavior or actions.

[Missmn]

The resistence has been and continues to be that Minnesota election law does not specify what to do with these votes. While common sense says to count them, the canvassing board is not able to order that they be counted because Minnesota election law has not granted them the power to do so.

[frappe]

In any event, it would wrong for them not to count them. After all, why should the voters be penalized for others' mistakes. They should do the right thing and count them...then change the law as as is possible so that this situation doesn't arise again.

[frappe]

Let me try this again :)

In any event, it would be wrong for them not to count them. After all, why should the voters be penalized for others' mistakes? They should do the right thing and count them...then change the law as soon as is possible so that this situation doesn't arise again.

[bygollymissmolly]

That's interesting because they did just that.

[bygollymissmolly]

The resistance has come from the Coleman camp because he suspects these votes may favor Franken and Coleman wants to win even if he has to disenfranchise voters. He even objected to allowing the 133 ballots that were lost to be counted the same as the first time they were counted. He figured if someone lost the packet, then to hell with the 133 votes, throw them out.

The Republicans are all about winning elections by disenfranchising voters. For the life of me I can't see why anyone would vote Republican. They are NOT a party that cares about you and your life. They only care about themselves and what they can get (meaning steal) from the taxpayer.

[frappe]

"...The Republicans are all about winning elections by disenfranchising voters. For the life of me I can't see why anyone would vote Republican. They are NOT a party that cares about you and your life. They only care about themselves and what they can get (meaning steal) from the taxpayer."

------------

I don't understand it, either. It's as though these people (Republican voters) live in an alternate universe and refuse to acknowledge the obvious. Many say it's the "cultural issues" that convinces these voters to vote Republican. But the fact is, and it has been shown, that the RNC knows this and manipulates them into believing that the Republican party actually cares about them and their social issues, when, in truth, all that most of them actually care about is how they can personally profit from the corporatocracy that they represent.

[milo h minderbinder]

Email from Franken's campaign to supporters (minus fundraising info, for length):

Dear Friend,

We got some great news in the last hour.

The state canvassing board has soundly rejected the Coleman campaign's attempt to disenfranchise 133 voters in Minneapolis whose ballots were lost during the recount, unanimously deciding to count those votes. In addition, they urged Minnesota's 87 counties to identify, open, and count absentee ballots that were wrongly rejected.

This is a huge win for us, because our position has always been the simple principle that every lawful vote should be counted. But there are still a lot of steps left ahead in this process, and the Coleman campaign is likely to bring a whole lot of political and legal muscle to re-double their efforts to stop the count.

We won't let them - but we need your help. Your contribution will enable us to stand up for voters who did everything right but whose ballots were improperly thrown out. Just two days ago, we released a YouTube video featuring seven of those voters - and it's already been viewed over 37,000 times!

The state canvassing board's ruling was a huge boost to our efforts to see that every vote is counted fairly, but there's still a long way to go before the election is decided.

The good news is, when it's all said and done, we're more confident than ever that Al Franken will be Minnesota's next U.S. Senator.

[Cunningham]

"My Vote"

http://www.youtube.com /watch?v=YBOad11LueE

[Cunningham]

"My Vote"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBOad11LueE