Posted on 12/28/2008 12:31:55 PM PST by GreatOne
Q What corrections might (still) be made to the vote tallies?
A Last week, staffers at the secretary of state's office reported the votes on 6,655 challenged ballots to the state canvassing board. These are ballots that one of the campaigns questioned as unclear or invalid. The campaigns withdrew many of these challenges, leaving the board with about 1,300 to judge. The board determined during the third week of December how to count those. Last weekend, staffers included those judgments along with the local elections officials' judgments on the other 5,200 in the recount total. Both campaigns said some errors were made in recording those votes, and each questioned the recording of the votes in about three dozen cases. On Tuesday, the state canvassing board will review those questions and make adjustments to the vote totals.
Q OK, corrections will be made this week. And then we're done, right?
A Nope. In the first week of January, the secretary of state will count the votes on improperly rejected absentee ballots. These are ballots that local election officials left out of their tallies simply by accident. According to a plan suggested by state and county officials and the campaigns, all of those ballots will be sent to the state by Jan. 2; the votes on them will be counted by Jan. 4; and the state canvassing board will deal with the results on Jan. 5 and 6.
Q And who will figure out which ballots were improperly rejected?
A The state Supreme Court ordered that the Franken campaign, the Coleman campaign and local elections officials must agree that a ballot was mistakenly rejected in order for it to be sent to the state. Any of the three parties would have veto power.
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
Q And what's the story about this double counting of votes I keep hearing about?
A Last week, the Minnesota Supreme Court heard arguments about Coleman's claim that some ballots were counted twice in the recount. On Wednesday, the court decided the recount should proceed with the inclusion of those allegedly double-counted votes.
Q Why does the Coleman campaign think there was double counting?
A During the recount, some original ballots could not be matched with their duplicates. Although the originals were counted in the recount, the Coleman campaign believes unmarked duplicates were also counted. The campaign points to the results from about two dozen precincts in Minneapolis where more ballots were counted in the recount than were recorded on Election Day as proof. (Note that we're talking about ballots, not votes. There are a lot of reasons for more votes to be tallied in the recount than on election night. Often, the voter marked a ballot in a way the voting machine couldn't detect but the human eyes of a recount official could.)
Q Is there any other explanation for more ballots being counted in precincts during the recount than were counted on Election Day?
A Maybe, and the Franken campaign believes some of those are more plausible. For instance, one Minneapolis precinct recorded about a dozen more ballots in the recount than on election night. At first it was a mystery. But Franken's attorneys say it was solved when, days later, an elections worker found about 12 duplicate overseas absentee ballots misplaced in a warehouse. They weren't counted on Election Day. But their originals hadn't been misplaced, and those originals were counted in the recount. In other words, despite an apparent jump in the number of ballots, it wasn't because of double counting, but because of proper single counting.
The first decision was beyond asinine. What is the point of having a recount if you’re going to go with the original numbers? I have seen no evidence that these ballots ever existed (I could be wrong on this, of course). The same argument that included these ballots was used by the Coleman campaign concerning the other ballots. Very likely that these 133 votes will be kicked on appeal (whether Coleman wins or loses).
The second decision was thwarted by the Minnesota Supreme Court, although they tried to split the baby by having a rep from each campaign review the absentee ballots with the county officials. As stated above, if the parties agree that the ballot was improperly rejected, then it gets counted. If they don’t, the rejected ballots won’t get reviewed until after the election is certified if a party contests the election.
All of the other allegations of funny business in this race are nonsense. No “stealing” of the election has occurred, excepting #1 above. And there is nothing that Gov. Pawlenty can do about this process. He has no involvement, so people should quit whining about him. Unless, of course, you buy into corrupt government as long as the corruption has an “R” after its name.
Sure glad Mr. Mullet himself Tim Pawlenty stayed on top of this. I knew Tim Pawlenty would come through. I knew Tim Pawlenty would never let Al Franken steal a Senate seat right from under his nose. I knew Tim Pawlenty’s national political career wasn’t over.
Good thread and post. Fingers crossed. Franken sitting in the Senate will make a mockery of the body.
If the “vote counters” give this seat to the comedian, America is in a lot worse shape than most of us think it is.
Excuse me, but I think the body has been mocked time and time again long before Franken.
They have one killer on there Maybe two if you count Ft. Marcy
The Senate is already full of commies, comedians, or both.
You’re right. It is a nightmare.
What “crap” are you referring to? Unless Coleman loses because of those 133 “missing” ballots, there have been no shennanigans. None. Zero. Zip. (Well, unless you include the usual Democrat voter fraud that took place before/on election day).
Oh thats right, whats wrong with me
nothing strange or foolish going on in
the land of 10,000 loons...mybad
“Democrats aren’t expected to take such a drastic measure that would appear to take the election out of Minnesota’s hands”
Why not, they DID in Washington state, they ARE at work in California with Prop. 8 and there is no doubt, given the chance, they WILL dump Coleman.
Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Franken sitting in the Senate will make a mockery of the body.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Yeah, Franken can’t measure up to giants like Ted Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Shumer, Obama, etc. Not to mention past greats like George McGovern, Fritz Hollings and the like.
If Franken steals this election, I may lose any remaining confidence in the Republican party forever. Bruise those knuckles.
If Franken steals this election, I may lose any remaining confidence in the Republican party forever. Bruise those knuckles.
Don’t make vague statements - tell me specifically what “strange” or “foolish” things are going on. You and others making such statements without any evidence look like complete jackasses.
THE ELECTION THAT INCLUDES AL FRANKEN
dang hows that
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