But there is the case that in multiple precincts, the replacements for “spoiled” ballots weren’t properly marked, and then in the recount the added the original spoiled ballots back in without removing the replacement ballots since they weren’t properly marked, meaning that some ballots were double-counted.
And there is the case where 133 ballots were missing in the recount, and the board decided to go back to the election-night count, when the law clearly states that if a recount is ordered, only those ballots which can be recounted are legal, and they have to use the recount vote.
And there is the case that Coleman submitted a set of absenttee ballots for consideration, and they were rejected falsely as being “too late”.
If Franken won, then he won, but he shouldn’t win because he got democratic operatives to accept his hand-selected absentee ballots counted, while ballots pretty much known to be republican were rejected.
And of course, we all saw by pictures how the board screwed up the recounting of poorly marked ballots — the public time and again selecting outcomes on those ballots favorable to COleman, only to have the board mysteriously reject Coleman ballots but accept dubious Franken ballots.
This is what Coleman’s argument is, but that’s not the same as “fraud”, which many others are accusing. Honestly, I didn’t really see any good way to resolve the situation with the missing duplicates/missing originals issue. We don’t want to overcount or undercount the votes. Considering the number of ballots cast statewide, it’s impressive there were as few mistakes as there were, but in an election this close, it matters. Both campaigns of course are going to try and bend it in such a way that they think the count will be more favorable towards them, much like Al Gore tried to do in Florida. The Secretary of State here is a DFL hack, but the courts are pretty balanced, so at some point, we have to just accept that the process has run its course. I watched the board ruling on a lot of the ballots, and it looked to me they were being fair. They even eliminated a few Franken ballots that I thought looked legit. I think a new election could be a better solution, but the law doesn’t provide for it. Honestly, if Coleman wants to fight this and leave the seat empty, that’s preferable to having either of those two as Senator.