According to this article, MN was using the same bad ballot tabulators in the more democratic areas that were recently found in MI to skip counting lots of votes.
There may be a serious under-count of valid Franken votes.
Update: Coleman only leads by 221 votes as of 11:47 PM CST 11/7/08
Independence DEAN BARKLEY 437385 15.16
Republican NORM COLEMAN 1211556 41.99
DFL AL FRANKEN 1211335 41.98
Apparently one person entered the wrong number somewhere and now that's been corrected.
Out of date: Coleman only leads by 336 votes as of 6:15 CST 11/6/08
Independence DEAN BARKLEY 437377 15.16
Republican NORM COLEMAN 1211542 41.99
DFL AL FRANKEN 1211206 41.98
note: it would be helpful to figure out what's going on in GA and AK, also... because I think they too use these same optical scanners, and I think they too, have seriously under counted democratic votes.
seen on http://news.google.com minutes ago:
http://minnesotaindependent.com/...
Problem-plagued ballot scanners could impact Coleman-Franken recount
By Andy Birkey 11/6/08 4:34 PM CST
The recount of the Minnesota Senate race could hinge on optical ballot scanners, machines with a history of errors that were put into place by former Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer in 2006. Minnesota’s ballot scanning machines, manufactured by Election Systems & Software (ES&S), were the same machines that a Michigan election official discovered last week don’t always tabulate ballots correctly. The model that caused the problems in Michigan were the same used mainly in Minneapolis and the surrounding suburbs.
Currently, Sen. Norm Coleman leads DFLer Al Franken by a scant margin, currently 590 votes out of more than 2.4 million cast. {sic. its really 336 as of 6:15 EST 11/6/08, and shrinking according to http://electionresults.sos.state.mn.... } There’s been some speculation that potentially faulty optical scanners could have significantly miscounted votes in precincts favorable to Franken.
In 2006, Minnesota went to a complete system of optical ballot scanning to tabulate votes. According to the Secretary of State’s office, Diebold Accuvote OS machines are used in St. Paul and the outer suburbs; ES&S Models 150, 315 and 550 are used in rural townships; ES&S Model 115 is used in Duluth and St. Louis County; and in Minneapolis and the inner suburbs, ES&S Model 100 is used.
ES&S Model 100 is the BAD machine!read the rest at the link above.