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

[StaninLA]

MN sufferred a great loss when Senator Wellstone died. If Al is elected and is anywhere near politically what Senator Wellstone was, MN will be in good hands. Following Al for many years, I think he will be.

[thaneb]

Stan, would extend that to "the country suffered a great loss". RIP, Paul. Good luck, Al.

[frappe]

I miss seeing Paul Wellstone in the well of the Senate. It has been six years already and he is still sorely missed. And when Coleman was elected to replace him after his tragic death in a plane accident while campaigning for reelection, it was a shocking disappointment. Al Franken, on the other hand, stands a far greater chance of recapturing the spirit and energy of Paul Wellstone. I hope that it is Al Franken who emerges from this process as the next Senator from Minnesota. Anything else would be another major disappointment.

[Carolab]

Victory!

[milo h minderbinder]

This article misses a MAJOR point of the meeting today.

While the board recommended that all counties count improperly rejected absentee ballots, the board has no power to require counties to do so.

As a result, some counties are going back and counting them, but others are not, which can still skew the vote totals and will likely end up just going to court to either force all to do it, or to try and keep any from being counted.

Also, Coleman has requested the MN supreme court to halt the counting of these ballots, at least until there is a standard procedure in place for counting them.

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/36043514.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUs

[Anastasia]

Good post.

Still, with allegations of Coleman excepting monetary favors, it wouldn't be surprising if state officials made sure that every last vote was counted. Nothing focuses the mind like scandal.

[BoboPalinski]

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.

Now that's funny!

[milo h minderbinder]

"voters are more likely to make clerical errors"

That's a mistake in the article.

With these particular ballots, the voter did everything right - the clerical mistake was made by ELECTION OFFICIALS. Hence "wrongly disqualified ballots".

Oh if only HP would make corrections to their articles...

[bygollymissmolly]

Oh if only HP would make corrections to their articles...
----------------------

Dream on. This site has become the internet version of the N A T I O N A L * E N Q U I R E R. Now why would they spoil that by being accurate in their reporting?

[kburlz]

Now how could non-clerks make clerical errors? Think Bobo, think.

[bubbuh]

I was going to wait until it came out on DVD. But, I discovered that the live blog account is relatively straightforward.
http://politicalblogs.startribune.com/bigquestionblog/?p=1246

[rivirobo]

Uncle Al, the kiddies pal. I hope he is a better public servant than he was as a comedian. I hope he and Obama change to Independant once in office. It seems the Dems are just as corrupt as the Republicans, but the Dems seem to be getting singled out more. I will glad when electoral college, crazy voting systems, and political parties are abolished. We need a uniform voting system through the cities, counties, states, and federal. My bank, etc., can tally my money electronically. I would like to see a voting CD with results posted for each voter. Then we can see who did and didn't vote and it can be corrected if the tally is off. Just look at the individual and gross results online or on paper. No more absentee or early vote - just secure CD. I don't want to see ads on TV, or political campaigns that last 2 years. Howabout sending me a CD, let me view it, and decide. Then pop my CD in at the school with my info and make my selections and get my printout right there. Then I want to be able to see my vote online, too.

[LiberalBuzz]

I must be missing something. Al is a terrific comedian. I've been to two of his shows and he was just hilarious. If he is as good a senator as he was in his shows, D.C. is going to be surprised at having ANOTHER intelligent politician show up.

[BLinCincinnati]

Motionview wrote: "Intelligence is correlated with education, which is correlated with income, which is correlated with voting Republican."

So...

Average Annual Income by State:

1) New Jersey (D) - $66,752
2) Maryland (D) - $63,082
3) Hawaii (D) - $61,005
4) Connecticut (D) - $60,551
5) New Hampshire (D) - $60,441
6) Alaska (R) - $57,071
7) Massachusetts (D) - $56,592
8) Minnesota (D) - $56,102
9) Utah (R) - $55,619
10) Virginia (D) - $55,368
11) California (D) - $54,385
12) Colorado (D) - $53,900
13) Washington (D) - $53,515
14) Delaware (D) - $52,676
15) Rhode Island (D) - $52,421
16) Vermont (D) - $52,174
17) Nevada (D) - $51,036
18) Illinois (D) - $49,328
19) Wisconsin (D) - $48,903
...
35) Missouri (R) - $44,487
36) Kansas (R) - $44,478
37) Texas (R) - $43,044
38) North Dakota (R) - $42,311
39) North Carolina (D) - $41,616
40) Tennessee (R) - $40,696
41) South Carolina (R) - $40,583
42) New Mexico (R) - $40,126
43) Montana (R) - $39,821
44) Oklahoma (R) - $38,859
45) Kentucky (R) - $38,694
46) Alabama (R) - $38,160
47) West Virginia (R) - $38,029
48) Louisiana (R) - $37,472
49) Arkansas (R) - $37,458
50) Mississippi (R) - $34,343


Why is it that the poorest states vote Republican and the wealthiest vote Democratic?

So by your logic... Republicans have lower incomes, which correlates to lower education, which correlates to lower intelligence.

Ok. I agree.

[canobserv]

facts.... and science..... and reason..... and logic......and even statistical evidence ......
you are wasting your time I am sorry to say........

[saturnine maniac]

Intelligence doesn't correlate to education, knowledge does.

[NETarrant]

So is Ohio the 56th or 57th state?

[BLinCincinnati]

20) Nebraska (R) - $48,820
21) New York (D) - $48,472
22) Georgia (R) - $48,388
23) Pennsylvania (D) - $48,148
24) Iowa (D) - $48,075
25) Michigan (D) - $48,043
26) Arizona (R) - $46,693
27) Wyoming (R) - $46,613
28) Oregon (D) - $46,349
29) Idaho (R) - $45,919
30) Ohio (D) - $45,776
31) Maine (D) - $45,503
32) Florida (D) - $45,038
33) South Dakota (R) - $44,996
34) Indiana (D) - $44,618

I left out the middle ones because of the word limit.

[mikekopac]

what do you mean?

[cae]

Go Al! A smart and hopefully honest voice in gov't is a good thing.

[ProfessorDuh]

Win it, Al. I want to see O'Reilly's huge head go Scanners.

[andvoodoo2]

Wouldn't it be just like popping a big balloon? A rush of hot air and then - nothing.

[canobserv]

....really?....I was thinking more like an oozing boil....full of green goo

[philistine]

Actually, there would be an accompanying bad smell; so it would more resemble a certain bodily function relating to flowing air.

Cheers!

[instagladiator]

Or a healthy, solid, good-ole down-to-earth beer f.a.r.t!!!

[SimonOne]

hahahahahah! I want to see that!

[Indubio]

Statistically a 4 vote lead is not a win and Coleman could challenge and declared victory. This election should have required a runoff without the third party candidate who garnered 17% of the vote. Without that person the race would likely have had a clear victory. As it stands presently, there can be no clear victor. In Minnesota, ties are decided by a coin toss. Pretty bizarre.

[milo h minderbinder]

Coleman can do whatever he wants, but that doesn't mean he's going to get anything.

"Statistically" doesn't figure into it, and a runoff isn't specified by MN law - it clearly says what will happen, and a runoff isn't an option.

And in the case of an absolute tie, many jurisdictions use a coin toss or equivalent random selection. That's not unusual at all.

[dagnome27]

And, ultimately, if Coleman should happen to somehow squeak by, the Senate can refuse to seat him.

[Cunningham]

If one of the candidates leads by 4 votes at the end of the recount process, that candidate is the election winner.

[taddles]

The election required a recount not a run off per state law. WE have a viable third party system, it allows more voices to be heard, it also creates some difficulty sometimes making close elections. As it stands presently, unless there is a perfect tie whoever leads by one vote at the end will be the winner regardless of your opinion. Not bizarre at all, it's called Democracy, you should try it sometime.

[Vivek]

This is great news! It feels like Al is going to make it.

[johnnygoodwud]

triple good day for me, al is going to win, i made some $$$ on g.m. stock, and watching my ford stock rise.

[BrahminNoodles]

GM -0.24 (-5.83%)
http://finance.google.com/finance?q=gm

[BLinCincinnati]

Just because it's down $0.24 doesn't negate that he might be making money. It was trading in the low $3's at the start of the day, even lower very early on. If he bought it at $3.25 at open and dumped it at around 1pm when it hit $4.15, he'd have made 28%. An investment of $2000 at $3.25, sold then at $4.15 just a few hours later would have earned him $554.

[Grommitt]

Franken is exhibiting aggressiveness in hounding election officials sadly lacking in Gore and Kerry. Good work, Al.

[andvoodoo2]

I agree. I expect my politicians to fight for what is right and just. If they don't exhibit that kind of grit and determination during the election (when their job is on the line), how can we expect them to fight for us once they get elected?

Geaux Al!

[jasjohn128]

Truth. No disrespect because each is a fine public citizen, but Gore and Kerry decided they didn't need this sh*t and just walked away - from us. If they didn't have enough fight in 'em to beat a couple of crooked elections and bum candidates, they sure wouldn't have had enough to do much good for the country after January 21.

Franken's a fighter, and there's been few enough of them in the Democratic Party these past eight years. Maybe he'll stiffen a few spines when his fellow Dems put on their traditional business suits ... the ones with the yellow stripe down the back, which they wear when they're busy apologizing or explaining how something can't be done because that bottom 28% of the electorate might say bad things about them on talk radio.

[SnarlsBarkley]

Cracking toast, Grommitt. ("HOUNDING election officials" hahahahahahaha!!!)

[taddles]

Fine point, you don't fight for me, there's no way I will fight for you. As much as I like Gore and Kerry, they allowed a crooked bum to steal the elections right out from under them. Gore should have taken that recount fight to the people and marched in the streets and started a dam civil war. WE fought a war 250 years ago to get our rights, if we have to fight it again we will, we just need a leader willing to stand up for us.

[drvck70]

The French/Indian War?

[rejoiceinit]

Say what you will about Franken--but atleast we know he has a spine. If he wins, that particular attribute is a valuable addition to Senate Democrats.

[max08]

Who wrote this? Teach the person how to use punctuation!

[Big0725]

I'm afraid you may be flogging a dead horse there!

[GeorgiaOrwell]

There is nothing wrong with the punctuation. Take an English class.

[milo h minderbinder]

Actually, this article is horribly written. It's awful and besides being badly written, gets some facts wrong.

[Justovertheriver]

Well, there is one misplaced comma in the first sentence; but as my West Highland White Terrier keeps telling me, "Rude of you to notice!"