CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
Nov. 27, 2008 – 12:51 a.m.
Coleman Edges Into Plus Territory in Minnesota Senate Recount
By Emily Cadei, CQ Staff
Republican incumbent Norm Coleman slightly extended his lead over Democratic challenger Al Franken in Minnesota’s undecided Senate race, as state election officials on Wednesday night concluded Day 7 of a hand recount of nearly 3 million votes.
But with about a seventh of the total votes still to be re-tallied — and each side poised to challenge more than 2,000 ballots when the state canvassing board reconvenes in mid-December — a decision in the year’s closest Senate contest still is likely weeks away.
By close of business Wednesday, Coleman had gained a net total of 77 votes, according to the office of Minnesota’s secretary of state. With approximately 86 percent of the ballots recounted, Coleman now leads Franken by 292 votes, up from the 215-vote margin he held at the end of the initial count that began on election night.
Minnesota’s automatic recount law was triggered when preliminary tallies of the 2.9 million ballots from the Nov. 4 election showed Coleman with 1,211,590 votes and Franken with 1,211,375 — a margin of .007 percent.
Even with the small net gain, Coleman still has a razor-thin overall lead over Franken. So it seems certain that the winner will be determined by the canvassing board’s rulings on the ballots each candidate is challenging. Through close of business Tuesday, monitors from the two campaigns had challenged a total of 4,740 ballots — with 2,292 of the challenges leveled by Franken’s campaign and 2,448 by Coleman’s.
The board will convene Dec. 16 to begin tabulating the results of the recount. The board aims to review all challenged ballots by Dec. 19.
Meanwhile, the canvassing board is scheduled to meet again next week to consider another key issue concerning the status of rejected absentee ballots.
The board ruled Wednesday it did not have the authority to review these ballots, stating that absentee ballot disputes need to be settling in the courts. But the board said it hoped to issue guidance on handling wrongly rejected absentee ballots that should have been counted. The board said it needed legal advice from the state Attorney General before proceeding.
Comments
Given this pathetic mess, where Franken would probably be the winner if all the votes were honestly counted and would definitely be an easy winner if that egotistical Nader-like third candidate with zero chance of winning hadn't kept his name on the ballot, the Senate should definitely show some spine in this case and refuse to seat the accidental Senator for another six years. That may well be Al Franken's last and best hope of emerging with justice from this situation. Let the Senate majority tell Minnesota vote-counters that, if they will not count all the votes, the Senate will refuse to seat anyone until there is a statewide revote. There is precedent for such a revote from the Senate election of 1974 in New Hampshire between Republican Louis Wyman and Democrat John Durkin. Like the current situation, no one could tell who really won. So a revote was required and held (which Durkin won)in 1975. Six years is a long time to put up with an accidental Senator. Let's either require an honest count or a future honest election.
This DFL'er needs to inform Ken Stevens that he has it all wrong. The third party candidate likely pulled more votes from Norm Coleman than he did from Al Franken. Franken just was not able to fully tie up the DFL base and he may very well have received fewer actual votes than Norm Coleman. The recount needs to continue and let the voters of Minnesota, not the U.S. Senate, decide.
In response: Well, how about if we see which of the two viable candidates actually received a majority of the votes from the Minnesota electorate by actually counting ALL of the votes? Failure to do that would give the Senate the option of not seating whoever is officially declared the winner and sending the contest back for a revote (including all candidates on the Nov. 4 ballot) so the voters of Minnesota could truly elect their choice. Let there be no doubt in the end about which candidate Minnesota voters prefer as their US Senator for the next six years.
Norm Coleman has already been declared the winner 2 times by state of Minn Elections The angry left is trying to steal another election and if they don't succeed are trying to take it to US Senate where as Harry Reid said "recounts are waste of finances" Norm Coleman has won state of Minn the angry left needs to get over it.
This is a Democrat state with the lions share of local election officials being Democrats including the SOS and AG. Therefore, if some absentee ballots are being rejected there obviously are good reasons for this. Fraud being the most obvious (read ACORN). The Canvassing board (mostly Democrats) will look into the challenged ballots and make their determination. Mr. Stevens just wants that vile scumbag Franken in the Senate at all costs. If Franken were ahead at this point Mr. Stevens would be singing a different tune, I assure you. But, that's how leftists are, selective outrage. This is what is wrong with voting by mail. There are always questions about the validity of the absentee voter. Voting by mail needs to be seriously curtailed to people that have an actual VALID reason for not showing up at the polling station and presenting an ID. Laziness isn't one of them. If your too lazy to participate properly in the democratic process then to hell with you and your vote.
"The Angry Left" ... lol ROTFLMFAO ... giggle giggle ... SNORT! I love how trying to make every vote count turns out to be a critique of "The Angry Left". I want every vote counted, and if that means that Norm Coleman wins, then so be it. I am not for him, but Democracy thrives when the people's choice for representation is respected. I hope Al Franken does take the rejected absentees issue to court. As a former Minnesotan, and Washington state resident, I find it utterly ridiculous that someone has to justify their reason to vote absentee! In the county I now live in, the ENTIRE election is absentee. I am disappointed because I first voted on election day in 1980 and it was same day registration, which I found greatly progressive. Look if all the ballots mean that Coleman won, ok... he's a carpetbagger, but ok... so be it. I can't buy this notion that voting absentee is because people are "lazy". Democracy thrives when every avenue available is opened to help people vote. I am an absentee voter and I take umbrage against the comment "There are always questions about the validity of the absentee voter"... I totally reject that argument. It is fallacious. Vote by mail must be STRENGTHENED, and I hope the state goes the same way of Washington State with all voting via the mail or internet.
" I want every vote counted..." You surely meant "I want every VALID vote counted..." It's a big difference upon which the validity of the election rests.
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