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What's Happening In Minnesota?
Powerline ^ | November 7, 2008 | John Hinderaker

Posted on 11/07/2008 2:47:02 PM PST by Caleb1411

When the polls closed Tuesday evening, Minnesota's Secretary of State's office showed that Norm Coleman had a 725-vote win in his closely contested race against Al Franken. By the next morning, however, Coleman's victory was already shrinking. As various precincts and county auditors have "corrected" their totals, Coleman's lead has dropped to a mere 237 votes. Minnesota Republicans are concerned that the fix may be in.

An example of the kind of thing now going on was reported in today's Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Just as Secretary of State Mark Ritchie was explaining to reporters the recount process in one of the narrowest elections in Minnesota history, an aide rushed in with news: Pine County's Partridge Township had revised its vote total upward -- another 100 votes for Democratic candidate Al Franken, putting him within .011 percentage points of Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman.

The reason for the change? Exhausted county officials had accidentally entered 24 for Franken instead of 124 when the county's final votes were tallied at 5:25 Wednesday morning.

Currently, the Minnesota Secretary of State's office shows the Franken's total in Partridge Township as 129, not 124. Still, the Partridge story is the most coherent explanation we've gotten so far as to why vote totals have repeatedly been adjusted to Franken's advantage.

Optical scan ballots are used nearly everywhere in Minnesota. The system is simple: once the polls close, absentee ballots are run through the machines with Republican and Democratic poll watchers both present. The machines are then locked down. The machine prints a tape that looks like a grocery store printout that summarizes the number of votes cast for each candidate in each race. At the same time, the totals are uploaded electronically, via a secure phone line connected to the box, to the county where the precinct is located; from there, they are reported to the Secretary of State. The tape showing the precinct's vote totals is signed by the precinct's election judge and is required to be publicly displayed.

There is essentially no human input here. There is no room for new ballots to be "discovered," or for counting "errors" to be corrected. The process is electronic. My understanding had been that optical scan voting is in use in every one of Minnesota's several thousand precincts. Based on the Strib's account of what happened in Partridge Township, it appears this may not be the case.

Some very basic questions need to be answered. What are the precincts that have allegedly "corrected" the vote totals they originally reported? On what basis were the alleged corrections made? Did both Republicans and Democrats participate in the alleged corrections? Have the original paper ballots been securely maintained since the polls closed? What assurances are in place to prevent Democrats from fraudulently adding new paper ballots? Do the precincts that have revised their vote totals use the optical scan system that is, as I understand it, nearly universal? If not, why not? If so, what do the ballot machines' tapes show? If the totals now being claimed are inconsistent with the tapes that were signed by the precinct's election judges, on what basis can they be accepted? Why is it that each "correction" seems to favor Franken?

The Coleman campaign has reportedly dispatched volunteers to try to guard the security of ballots in some locations. The danger, of course, is that they could already be too late. Minnesota's Secretary of State, a left-wing activist who was elected in 2006 after MoveOn.org and other nationwide groups targeted the Minnesota Secretary of State race, has yet to certify vote totals. If fraud is to be committed, it most likely has taken place already, or will occur before the recount begins.

UPDATE: Hot off the press, the first apparent evidence of fraud. Last night at around 7:30, a precinct in Mountain Iron, St. Louis County, mysteriously updated its vote total to add 100 new votes--all 100 for Barack Obama and Al Franken.

Mountain Iron uses optical scanning, so the Coleman campaign asked for a copy of the tape documenting the ballots cast on election night. St. Louis County responded by providing a tape that includes the newly-added 100 votes, and is dated November 2--the Sunday before the election. St. Louis County reportedly denies being able to produce the genuine tape from election night, even though Minnesota law, as I understand it, requires that tape to be signed by the election judges and publicly displayed.

Maybe there is some legitimate explanation for these events, but I haven't thought of one yet. More to come.


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Minnesota
KEYWORDS: coleman; franken; mn2008
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1 posted on 11/07/2008 2:47:03 PM PST by Caleb1411
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To: MplsSteve

Ping


2 posted on 11/07/2008 2:47:25 PM PST by Caleb1411 ("These are the days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed except his own." G. K. C)
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To: Caleb1411

If Franken steals it, it will almost be worth it to see the IDIOT he makes of himself

His a TOTAL ass clown


3 posted on 11/07/2008 2:49:46 PM PST by kauaiboy (Obama is a islamomarxist plant)
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To: Caleb1411

Lyndon Johnson’s 1948 primary victory, revisited.


4 posted on 11/07/2008 2:49:54 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: Caleb1411

Minnesota is a cold commie enclave. The fix is in. The failed comedian will be the junior senator. The biggest joke is on all the doofasses that voted for him and on all those who didn’t bother to go out and vote against him.


5 posted on 11/07/2008 2:50:22 PM PST by shankbear (Al-Qaeda grew while Monica blew)
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To: Caleb1411
FURTHER UPDATE: The Minneapolis Star Tribune has this explanation: Reporter Mark Brunswick has talked to election officials for Mt. Iron and the county, and here's what they say: The precinct officials called in the correct results on Election Night: 506 for Franken, 211 for Coleman. But the county incorrectly wrote down 406 for Franken, 211 for Coleman. And that's what was reported to the Minnesota Secretary of State's office. Wednesday night, the Secretary of State website showed a 100-vote increase for Franken in Mt. Iron, Pct. 1. The Coleman camp's Cullen Sheehan says the timestamp on the ballot machine's vote total reads: "11/02/2008″ That's two days before the Nov. 4 election. A county official told Brunswick that the machine's clock must be incorrect. When they tested a machine in Mt. Iron Pct. 2 in late October, running test ballots through to make sure the machine was working properly, it also showed an incorrect date on the printout. And the printout from that Pct. 2 machine in Mt. Iron on Election Night, when it printed out the final vote tallies that remain unchanged, also shows an incorrect timestamp of Oct. 31. Several of these assertions are subject to verification. One thing I don't understand is why local officials called the results in to St. Louis County, which then wrote them down by hand. Precinct 1 in Mountain Iron, according to the Minnesota Secretary of State's web site, uses an optical scanner. So the results should have been uploaded electronically to St. Louis County. Is there some reason why that system was not functioning? So far, I've seen no explanation. Also, the tape that was printed off the optical scanner after the polls closed on November 4 should have been signed by the election judges, both a Republican and a Democrat. Did this happen? Obviously, the tape that was given to the Coleman campaign wasn't signed. But somewhere there should be a Republican election judge who can shed light on what happened.
6 posted on 11/07/2008 2:54:45 PM PST by astyanax (If you need to wear a mask while speaking your mind, it is probably best you remain silent...)
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To: Caleb1411

Well in Florida in 2000, a large number of outraged Republicans stormed the offices of the vote counters. I don’t remember if it was Dade County or West Palm or somewhere else. But it was beautiful to watch.

They stopped the fraudulent activities that were going on there.

An angry mob of enraged Republicans is beautiful to watch.


7 posted on 11/07/2008 2:54:52 PM PST by FroggyTheGremlim
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To: Caleb1411
If you want to know how it's going to turn out, just look at the WA State Gubernatorial race in 2004. The script has already been written.
8 posted on 11/07/2008 2:56:30 PM PST by Sopater (I'm so sick of atheists shoving their religion in my face.)
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To: Caleb1411
Why is everyone surprised by this? ACORN did it successfully in 2004 in the Washington State gubernatorial race (Gregoire-Rossi), and they just did it here in Oregon in the US Senate Race (Merkley-Smith). They're getting better at it every time they successfully pull it off.

Needless to say, it's only going to get worse and more blatant, now that they're going to have an advocate in the White House :-(

9 posted on 11/07/2008 2:58:08 PM PST by Inspectorette
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To: Caleb1411

What are we going to do about the massive cheating in this country?


10 posted on 11/07/2008 3:00:33 PM PST by Bellflower (A Brand New Day Is Coming!)
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To: Caleb1411

Here’s one thing I’ve wondered about: surely it should be possible to review the pattern of changes or “corrections” after the original vote totals were submitted and study them in comparison with the party affiliation of the officials involved etc.

It should not be the case that all of the “corrections” are favoring one candidate, right? If numerous precincts have “corrections” that all favor the Demagogue candidate then that should be a prima facie indication that something suspicious is going on....


11 posted on 11/07/2008 3:00:38 PM PST by Enchante (Sarah Palin is Worth Infinitely More to Us than Any Vicious RINO Anonymous Staffers)
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To: shankbear

I know a lot of conservatives who voted for Barkley, the Independent candidate, in protest of Norm’s status as a moderate.

Not the right time, especially against such a Left-Wing loon like Al Franken


12 posted on 11/07/2008 3:01:52 PM PST by Seven Minute Maniac
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To: Caleb1411
Minnesota's Secretary of State, a left-wing activist who was elected in 2006 after MoveOn.org and other nationwide groups targeted the Minnesota Secretary of State race, has yet to certify vote totals

Such foresight. Apparently about to pay huge dividends.

13 posted on 11/07/2008 3:02:29 PM PST by San Jacinto
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To: Caleb1411
Typical of the Nazi Democrats when they steal elections which they do on a regular basis.
14 posted on 11/07/2008 3:05:15 PM PST by YOUGOTIT (The Greatest Threat to our Security is the Royal 100 Club)
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To: Caleb1411

As with the Governors race in the state of Washington a few years back, recounts will continue until Franken has enough to win.


15 posted on 11/07/2008 3:06:23 PM PST by Balding_Eagle (If America falls, darkness will cover the face of the earth for a thousand years.)
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To: kauaiboy
If Franken steals it, it will almost be worth it to see the IDIOT he makes of himself

Doubt he'll show up for work once he realizes how small he'll be as part of 100 -- and a new part.
He just wants to go on all the same shows with "Sen." in front of his name.

16 posted on 11/07/2008 3:08:34 PM PST by Tanniker Smith (Teachers open the door. It's up to you to enter. Before the late bell. When I close the door.)
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To: Bellflower

Wasn’t it Thomas Jefferson who talked about the blood of patriots being the natural manure (term for compost/fertilizer in those days) of the Tree of Liberty?

Maybe he mentioned the blood of the tyrants as well.

I don’t see any other solution.


17 posted on 11/07/2008 3:08:57 PM PST by little jeremiah (Leave illusion, come to the truth. Leave the darkness, come to the light.)
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To: NorthWoody; Manic_Episode; mikethevike; coder2; AmericanChef; Reaganesque; ER Doc; lesser_satan; ...

WELCOME TO FREE REPUBLIC’S MINNESOTA PING LIST!

116 MEMBERS AND GROWING...!

FREEPMAIL ME IF YOU WANT ON OR OFF THIS LIST!


18 posted on 11/07/2008 3:13:13 PM PST by MplsSteve
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To: shankbear

To have this nitwit making decisions about our troops, economy and the hundreds of things the Senate votes on is just plain scary. In a way, the fact that he almost won, just about says it all for this election.


19 posted on 11/07/2008 3:13:22 PM PST by dandiegirl
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To: Caleb1411

This has already happened before. Thune Vs. Johnson in 2002. We went to bed and our guy is up significantly, then a boatload of votes show up from Indian country and Johnson wins. Funny how it’s always lib votes that show up the next day somehow.


20 posted on 11/07/2008 3:13:41 PM PST by SoDak (Molon Labe)
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