When they do a hand recount, they will look at the ballots to see if they can gauge the “intent” of the voter. For instance, instead of filling out the oval or whatever next to Franken’s name, voters may have circled his name or crossed out the other candidates. Essentially, a study was done that concluded that Franken has a fighting chance because people more likely to vote for Franken are people who are too stupid to properly fill out a ballot. Ladies and gentlemen, the people who decide elections, idiots!
The problem with that is that in MN, as I understand it, the optical scan ballot is kicked right back out to the voter if it is filled out ambiguously, and not recorded unless the voter corrects it (or confirms that they meant to leave a race blank.)
Adding up the Franken votes seems like two kids dividing Halloween candy: “One for you (Coleman) and two for me (Franken); two for you and four for me; one for you and three for me....................
Franken will prevail via vote stealing — simple as that.