I have read several comments, diaries, and even a front-page post that had incorrect information about the Minnesota Senate Campaign and the recount set to take place.
Follow me below for a comprehensive account of what has taken place so far, what is occurring now, and what will be happening in the near future.
How Things Unfolded:
Tuesday, November 4
Despite Barack Obama being declared the winner of Minnesota's 10 electoral votes as soon as polls closed, the 3-way U.S. Senate Race between Al Franken (DFL), incumbent Senator Norm Coleman (R) and former Senator Dean Barkley (IP) was undecided late into the night.
Wednesday, November 5
Many woke up Wednesday morning to see Coleman holding a 571-vote lead over Franken with 100% of precincts reporting. The Associated Press called the race for Coleman. However, the AP was forced to retract its call because the vote margin between Coleman and Franken was less than one-half of one percent, triggering Minnesota's mandatory recount law.
Despite the automatic recount and AP's retraction, Coleman insisted he had been reelected, the NRSC put out notes of congratulations, and Coleman called upon Franken to concede the race and stop the recount. While Franken could technically stop the recount from going forward under MN election law, he recognized Coleman's lead of less than 1000 votes out of nearly 3 million cast was far from definitive. Franken put out a statement:
...Let me be clear: Our goal is to ensure that every vote is properly counted.
The process, dictated by our laws, will be orderly, fair, and will take place within a matter of days. We won’t know for a little while who won this race, but at the end of the day, we will know that the voice of the electorate was clearly heard. There is reason to believe that the recount could change the vote tallies significantly...
Let me be clear: This race is too close to call, and we do not yet know who won. We are lucky enough to live in a state with built-in protections to ensure that in close elections like these, the will of the people is accurately reflected in the outcome. This has been a long campaign, and it’s going to be a little longer before we have a winner. Senator Coleman, Senator Barkley, and I have done a lot of talking. Minnesotans have waited a long time to have THEIR say. And thanks to our state’s laws, we will eventually understand precisely what they have said."
Where We Are Today:
Thursday, November 6
The vote totals have shifted several times since the AP initially called the race when 100% of precincts had reported. As of this writing, the vote totals are as follows:
Coleman (Republican): 1,211,542 (41.99%)
Franken (Democratic-Farmer-Labor): 1,211,306 (41.98%)
Barkley (Independence): 437,377 (15.16%)
Aldrich (Libertarian): 13,916 (0.48%)
Niemackl (Constitution) 8,906 (0.31%)
Write-In: 2,340 (0.08%)
That is a 236 vote lead for Coleman! That's right, all that separates Coleman and Franken is 10% of the Write-In total.
Why the shifts in the vote totals?
It’s because county auditors are finding minor errors as they’re proofing their unofficial numbers before shipping them to St. Paul, said John Aiken, spokesman for Secretary Mark Ritchie.
"The counties are trying to be as accurate and transparent as possible. You’ll see fluctuations here and there," Aiken said.
It happens all the time in every election, he said. The only difference is that for most elections, the margin is much wider and the election less prominent. Here, he said, "The eyes of the nation are on this Senate race."
That is to say, there are not still new ballots being counted. The changes that are taking place are simply auditors correcting the vote tallies of tired poll workers who had made mistakes. Under Minnesota law, absentee ballots must be received by election day in order to be counted. All absentee ballots were counted in the original tallies. Likewise, there are not provisional ballots in Minnesota because Minnesota has same-day voter registration.
If you are not registered to vote or need to update your registration information, you may do so at your local polling location on Election Day. However, you are required to provide proof of residence when registering on Election Day.
What Happens Now?
November and December 2008
Following the certification of the election results (which are still shifting), the recount will take place.
Joe Mansky, director of elections for Ramsey County, says that in any election, as many as 2 in every 1,000 ballots are "spoiled," that is, someone makes a mistake like putting a checkmark in the circle instead of filling it in.
The machine rejects those ballots, and normally, they're never counted.
But in a recount, those ballots are reviewed, and if the election judge can determine what the voter intended, the vote could still count.
And in a race with almost 3,000,000 voters, that potentially means 6,000 uncounted votes...
In Minnesota, recounts are done by hand. That means carefully examining each and every ballot. The Secretary of State says election judges will do the work, watched closely by observers.
"Everybody would like to know how quickly this can be done, but our main concern is that it is done accurately and with transparency," says Secretary of State Mark Ritchie.
And at the heart of Minnesota's recount process is the state's voter intent law, which allows an election official to determine what a voter intended to do even if he filled out his ballot in a way the optical scanner couldn't read.
"We try not to disenfranchise voters who simply make technical mistakes marking the ballot," says Joe Mansky.
According to Minnesota law, votes will be counted:
If a name is written in the proper place but write in not is not marked (Misspellings for names written-in are OK provided that voter intent can be determined)
If a mark is made out of place but close enough to a name or line to determine voter intent.
If marks are made next to two candidates and an attempt was made to erase one of the two
Votes will not be counted:
If the voter marks multiple candidates for a single office. (All other offices on the ballot are counted if possible.)
If the voter used an identifying mark or mark with the intent to identify the ballot.
And what happen's if auditors cannot agree on voter's intent?
If campaign observers challenge the recount auditor's decision and there's no agreement on whom the voter picked, the disputed ballots are sent to the five-member state Canvassing Board, which will include [Secretary of State] Ritchie, two state Supreme Court justices and two Ramsey County district court judges. That group will vote on any disputes and come up with the official totals for each candidate.
Outlook:
This race is ridiculously close. For all we know, Franken may pass Coleman by the time the votes are certified and the recount begins. If not, we have one of the most progressive Secretary of States in the nation in Mark Ritchie. I think any Minnesotan will tell you how lucky we are that we were able to elect Ritchie our Secretary of State in 2006 and defeat Mary Kiffmeyer (who did everything she could to prevent Democratic-leaning voters from voting). Ritchie will make sure the process is transparent and fair and will not rush the process just to declare a winner. We may have to wait until December for the results, but it will be worth it to uphold the integrity of the process. It is anyone's call who will win, but it seems to me that new voters would be the most likely to mark a ballot incorrectly. That should favor Franken. Then again, you never know how many Coleman voters out there decided they would be Mavericks and color outside the lines. I hope when the new Congress begins, we're able to call Al, Senator Franken.