Posted on 11/22/2008 12:24:12 PM PST by lewisglad
The weekend isn't bringing any respite in the Minnesota Senate recount.
Ballots in the ultra-close race between Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken are being counted in at least three counties today.
Fifty-three counties have reported complete results to the secretary of state, meaning fewer than three dozen remain. As of Friday night, at least 60 percent of the estimated 2.9 million ballots had gotten a second look.
Coleman entered the recount with a 215-vote edge over Franken. That lead has dropped to 115 votes when comparing totals in precincts where the new count is complete. But the figure doesn't include ballot challenges, which have caused vote tallies for both men to drop.
There have been 1,525 challenges between the campaigns, although some could be withdrawn before the Canvassing Board's Dec. 16 meeting.
In a high-ceilinged warehouse in northeast Minneapolis, the recount was carefully monitored by 52 volunteer observers for Coleman and 40 for Franken.
The work area was hushed, with little conversation as people focused on their work.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
If Coleman does edge this out, the Marxocrats will be screaming that he stole the election
The Somali Muslims that this administration seemes hell bent on letting into the country voted unanimously for their boy Franken...but their pirate buddy votes have yet to be counted.
Everyone is interpreting these recount numbers incorrectly.
Franken’s gains are NOT the result of new votes being “found” - there are a trivial number of “undervotes” being found. Virtually all of the changes in the counts are a result of votes being temporarily removed from the tallies of both Coleman and Franken due to challenges.
It’s just that Coleman is having more votes “removed” than Franken - probably almost entirely due to Franken challenges. When a ballot is challenged, it is temporarily removed from the count. So the changes in the official tallies don’t really mean too much - it’s all about the final dispensation of the challenged ballots which have been removed from the count temporarily.
Here are the numbers. So far, Coleman’s official vote count has decreased by 603 votes, and Franken’s official vote count has decreased by 535 votes for a net “gain” to Franken of 68 votes. (215 lead - 68 Franken gain = 147 current Coleman lead)
However, at the same time, Coleman has challenged 860 ballots and Franken has challenged 868 ballots. All of these have been temporarily removed from the counts.
When the recount is over, all of the challenged ballots will be reviewed by the canvassing board and decisions made.
One should assume that if a candidate challenges a ballot, it’s because it otherwise would have been interpreted in a way unfavorable to that candidate.
Therefore, whoever has the MOST challenges is likely to do WORSE with the challenged ballots. i.e., chances are that most of the Franken challenges will go to Coleman, and that most of the Coleman challenges will go to Franken.
Right now, having done all the math, I would rather be sitting in Coleman’s position than Franken’s. If trends hold, Coleman will end the recount with a lead of 25-75 votes (my over-under is 50), with most of the challenges having been made by Franken.
Since most challenges will have been made by Franken, the presumption mustt be that they will break for Coleman, unless Coleman has been challenging ballots on significantly more liberal and frivolous grounds than Franken.
This is unlikely, therefore Franken’s lead will probably not decrease.
I predict a Coleman win by 50 votes.
Also, the process seems to be running very fairly and smoothly, so let’s not behave like moonbats and truthers with their conspiracy theories. Let’s let these people do their jobs. Everyone is being watched closely and I expect a very fair result.
Good lord. Why keep these stupid paper ballots. Even my supposedly backwards state of LA has a system where no identifying marks, stray lines or finger smudges can lead to “confusion” about a voters intent. Obviously there are too many dopes in MN who can’t figure out how to mark a “scan tron” ballot. Ours has a plastic covered paper overlay where you press the candidates name and a yellow X appears next to the name. then press the Cast Vote button and you’re done. Simple.
You mean that for the first time Coleman gained??? That must be a misprint!
If you think e-voting is the “better” way— you just might be the “dope”
It’s not e-voting.
Coleman now up 149
That tends not to happen because republican voters are more competent than their democratic counterparts.
I like specific and bold predictions like this. You're saying that you expect Coleman to win by 50 votes with a standard deviation of 12.5.
I'm not nearly as bold as you. I'd increase that standard deviation. I'm also increasing my Coleman margin.
Coleman by 130 with a standard deviation of 35.
Lots of luck, America. We'll need it.
“Ir ia “odd” that Coleman has never gained a single vote in the proceedings, it seems.”
I don’t know if we can say he (Coleman) hasn’t gained a vote since all we are seeing is the net change. AFAICT
Coleman’s lead now at 181!!!
Frankenstein’s minions seem to have slipped up somewhere. Republicans are not allowed to gain votes in recounts.
Yeah, they’re getting tired. They missed their government cheese handout of the day.
Have no fear, I’m sure they’ll just keep counting until they’ve “found” enough new ballots stuffed in someone’s trunk.
GREAT!
Has Coleman actually gained any votes or is Franken just losing some?
I would be nice if recounts were illegal. It seems that a recount is more suspect than the tally reported on election day. The person ahead when the buzzer goes off wins. End of story.
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