Comments on: As Counting Continues Pursuant to MN Law, Franken May be Ahead by This Evening

By: PHB

PHB — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:34:05 +0000

Coleman cannot possibly pull of a Florida style fix.

The ultimate arbiter here is the Senate, not the Supreme Court. No recount, no seat, end of story. Coleman can whine and cry and scream as much as his likes but it does not change anything. The rules require a recount and either there will be a recount or the result will be invalidated.

By: West Metro Dem

West Metro Dem — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:18:26 +0000

Mpls election judge may be right. I was part of the process processing absentee ballots but didn’t see which envelope they were put in. Needless to say these would be processed later - if appropriate. That alone will account for a goodly number of ballots to come in before results are certified. We can’t be the only precinct out of the over 4000 precincts that had ballots that couldn’t be processed that night.

By: dboza

dboza — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:13:20 +0000

A friend of mine made mention of her dilemna when she voted at her local precinct in Linden Hills. In the rush of people voting everywhere outside of the booth at her precinct, she accidently saw a person voting w/ check offs instead of filling the oval. She did not know if she should tell the voter that she accidently glanced at the voter’s ballot or what? She decided to tell the judge handing out the ballots maybe they might want to make mention of filling in the ovals, the judge curtly told her there is a sign and they dont have to tell anyone verbally how to fill out the ballot. My friend was not satisfied so she sought out the head judge and told her about her observation and maybe she should intervene. The judge said no, the ballot would be rejected by the machine. The voter in question was an older black woman. As far as we know her ballot was accepted. P.s I was told by a very good source there are Coleman people sitting in their cars outside metropolitian city halls for several days now, why?

By: Mpls election judge

Mpls election judge — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:30:27 +0000

I think that West Metro Dem is correct but has some terminology wrong. “Spoiled” ballots are ones where the voter has made a mistake and wants another ballot to fill out correctly. These obviously wouldn’t be counted. “Rejected” ballots are part of the absentee process — not on the roster, incorrect precinct, etc. — and is what the post refers to.

By: West Metro Dem

West Metro Dem — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:31:20 +0000

As an election judge I’m not thinking that the vote change will be occurring based on undervotes but on spoiled ballots. In our precinct (only one of 4,138 statewide), we had 2 spoiled ballots. One was an absentee ballot returned that could not be read on our machine as the incorrect ballot had been sent to the voter. It went back to the city election supervisor for processing. Another was an absentee ballot sent to our precinct by the city where the voter was not registered in our precinct. It, too, was returned to the city election supervisor. After collecting all of the “spoiled” ballots from all of the precincts the process begins to match the absentee ballots up with the correct precincts and the correct voter rolls to ensure that the voter didn’t vote in person and to notate the rolls properly that the absentee ballot was received and then process it. Additionally, any other spoiled ballots will be verified to check which precinct ballot the voter should have received and process those ballots accordingly. The process is labor intensive and time consuming - that’s why they have more than a week to process these spoiled ballots and update the totals before certifying. As nefarious as the GOP wants this to be, it is the process - has been for years - and there’s nothing wrong with it.

By: DantheMan

DantheMan — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:49:57 +0000

Fascinating article.

I personally think that many of the undervotes will stand after the recount. The fact is that Obama got so many new voters out on election day. They were people not into politics but felt that they wanted to go vote for this man. So they show up, vote for Obama, and then submit their ballot. Is it conceivable to think that many of them didn’t even look at a downticket race? Absolutely.

By: tkg

tkg — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:08:01 +0000

204 now.

By: Will

Will — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:50:48 +0000

I don’t follow fivethirtyeight regularly so thanks for the tip - good piece.

By: RL

RL — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:35:14 +0000

Have St Louis and ramsey countys reported yet?

By: Dave Porter

Dave Porter — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:05:28 +0000

Lest we forget the Brooks Brothers Riot at the Miami-Dade County courthouse that blocked
the accurate tabulation of votes for Al Gore:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31074-2005Jan23.html

Given the parallels, we should be quick to realize the importance if similar tactics are
used here.

I’ve always wondered what the conversation was like, between the Dade County Sheriff
and the BushCo people. The one that led to the Sheriff’s refusal to keep his own
courthouse quiet enough for people to get their work done. As I recall, his next
job was a single term as a Republican congressman for Dade County.

Not that there are any possible parallels here in good old Minnesota, what with
Republican Sheriffs in both Hennepin and Ramsey Counties. Nor was there any hint
of partisan activity by either Sheriff within the past month or so, RNC-related actions
notwithstanding…