The Frozen Tundra Network welcomes fans from the Georgia Bowl Martin-Chambliss tournament. There's plenty of seating for you next to the Begich-Stevens fans from the Juneau Glacier Bowl. Here in the last match of the 111th Senatorial Bowl (well dressed fans, you have the wrong location of Sartorial Bowl) this broadcast is an OPEN THREAD, recommended by the many all day (thats you) for all the Minnesota news, speculation, updates and breaking reports about the great Coleman-Franken collision, known around the league by the nickname, "The Recount."
Choose an entry gate, whether the aquavit-plastered Norwegians over at Fjord Gate-son 3 bawling out Leif Ericsson's favorite hymn, "Go Vikings, lets get that ball...", Smorgasbord Gate-son 4 with acres of tiny sandwiches, pickled herring and a shot of Absolut between each bite, or Dansk Gate-sEn 5 with all the spare, sleek 1962 modern furniture done in blond wood with endless bottles of Carlsberg resting on endless teak coasters (spare and sleek as well.)
If you'll just present your Orange tickets below the fold.....
We have a set of handy links so you can follow along in depth.
MN Sec. of State Website: http://electionresults.sos.state.mn....
Star Tribune Almost Real Time Recount Map thingy:http://www.startribune.com/...
New Media links:
The UpTake (includes videos):http://www.theuptake.com/
MinnPost:http://www.minnpost.com/
Minnesota Progressive Project:http://www.mnprogressiveproject.com/
Last Diary in this Series (Tue. 12/2):http://www.dailykos.com/...
1000+ challenged ballot pictures at Star Tribune:http://senaterecount.startribune.com/
WCCO's (TV & Radio) Recount Map Precinct by Precinct (Warning, Advanced Users only, i.e. terminally political geeks):http://elections.cbslocal.com/...
Ballots in the Frozen North come in 3 flavors: recount, challenged, and absentee for your viewing delight.
1) Recounting Ballots
From the Sec. of State's Office: 8:00pm CT 12/03/08 Wednesday eve. (NOTE: County totals needed to be faxed in to Ritchie's office by 6:00pm to be included in these numbers. Star Tribune and other sources may have later numbers that will be included tomorrow.)
Total Ballots reported counted since start of recount: 97.58%
(Wednesday: 4.89 pct. points added, and little left to go)
Coleman 1,174,964= -2501 from election night in these same precincts.
Franken 1,186,134= -2602 from election night in these same precincts.
BOTH candidates have apparently lost votes on the recount, but this is a net swing TO Norm Coleman of 101 votes (Yesterday, net Coleman= 88)
SO the simple math is Coleman's lead at the start 215+101= 316
For what its worth (not much) Coleman gained back a net of 13 votes from yesterday's totals......2 good sized Metro counties (Scott, S of Twin Cities and Wright, NW of Minneapolis; each over 50K votes) started recounting today. Scott is 62% done and Wright 42% finished at the 6:00pm mark when they faxed in figures to the Sec. of State office. They may have counted past 6:00......
TWO big pieces of Recount Ballot News Wednesday (The Lord Giveth and the Lord Taketh Away):
- Franken campaign in their midday presser advanced the claim that using their recount numbers and their approach to the challenged ballots "Frankenmath"(see more in part 2 below) that they believe for the first time in the recount process that they have a lead---of about 22 votes. This was obviously helped along by Tuesday's discovery in St. Paul suburb Maplewood of 171 votes not counted 11/4 but added Tuesday to the total count....and those 171 broke +37 net for Franken. But........
- Wednesday afternoon came word 133 (or 131, or 129; various reports) votes in Hennepin county (Minneapolis metro) were not showing up in one precinct's recount. First reports were these votes may have been write-in ballots (proper ones) that by human error were run through the optical scanning counter twice and so double-counted. This being a heavily Democratic precinct they broke for Franken net +88. But if they were double counted, and now corrected, then Franken goes down 88. Later report says no to 88, but perhaps Franken net -46.
Now from McIntee at TheUpTake with hard numbers:
"From Minneapolis Ward 3 Precinct 1
1,047 voters signed in on the roster.
932 additional voters registered in person on Election Day.
35 absentee ballots were accepted in this precinct by the city.
15 absentee ballots were accepted in this precinct by the county.
TOTAL: 2,029 voters cast legal ballots (2,028 votes are recorded on the machine tape).
TODAY: 1,896 ballots were included in the recount.
That means there were 133 more voters (not just votes) on election day than there were ballots available for the recount.
That would seem to call into question the explanation of running 133 ballots through the machine twice."
(By the way that is one awesome set of same day registration numbers!)
Campaign Contrast: Tuesday in Maplewood the Colemaniks sent a legal team to find out what had happened in the 171 case, and were "skeptical" going in (and quiet coming out.) The Frankenites were of course pleased by the +37 swing their way but were quiet about the Colemaniks.
Wednesday in Minneapolis the Frankites sent a legal team to find out what had happened in the 133 case and were concerned that number of ballots might be missing, asking Director Reichert and staff to search for the ballots. The Colemaniks were of course please by the possible +46 swing their way and sent out Mark Drake to say:
"In a statement, Coleman campaign spokesman Mark Drake said, "The Minneapolis officials appeared to be quite thorough in their search today, and it is disappointing that the Franken campaign, once again, is attacking local election officials and blaming them for simply doing their jobs."
If things stay this way Franken's +37 from Tuesday could well be canceled out by a -46 on Wednesday. Also this whole thing unfolded AFTER the Franken Presser and their claim to a 22 vote possible lead, so this will throw those calculations out the window. Situation unresolved as of last night. Check in morning for developments.
2) Challenged Ballots
The numbers from last night's Sec. of State posting:
Coleman and other ballots challenged by FRANKEN= 3085
Franken and other ballots challenged by COLEMAN= 3241
Total challenged ballots: 6326 (up 323 from Tuesday)
Big news Wednesday here was the Franken campaign followed through on Monday's promise (how quaint! how anti-political! what a change!....(fade in voice:)"and this is the change we need. We all need change (voice fades away amid cheering)....") and announced they are dropping 633 ballots they have challenged so far. So far more than the "several dozen" Franken lawyer Elias announced Monday (about 52 dozen plus) and more than 1/5 of Franken's total as of Wednesday night. So first move to Franken.
Coleman campaign has been pushing for a meeting with the Frankenites to hash out a mutual stand down on challenged ballots. Franken campaign said they've heard this for a week from Colemaniks--via the press, but not once by letter, e-mail or phone call from Norm's nabobs. In other words, all talk, no walk. BUT the Colemaniks DID have a theory about the Franken stand down on 633 challenged ballots.
Fritz Knaak, Coleman's lead recount attorney, while acknowledging the Franken campaign's challenge withdrawals, suggested the announcement may have been an attempt to "create news" and keep momentum to help with political fundraising. Knaak said the announcement also may have been timed to deflect the effect of the reelection Tuesday of U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, a Georgia Republican, a result that prevents Democrats from gaining a 60-vote, filibuster-proof Senate majority.
Chambliss' victory, said Knaak, had dealt "a serious blow" to Franken's attempt to show his race is critical to Democrats nationally. Franken's people said Chamblis' reelection will have no effect on strategy for the Minnesota race.
3) Rejected Absentee Ballots
At last count these numbered 9200+ and yesterday we posted a letter sent from the Sec. of State's office to county and city auditors across the state directing the county boards to sort the rejected absentee ballots into 5 piles, 4 for each of the 4 mandatory reasons for rejecting in state law and a"5th pile" of those rejected for something else. (State wide those 5th piles could add 500-1000 votes across the state.) But no one is allowed to count these yet until we can find out if we can legally.
Now comes word the State Canvassing Board will meet December 12 (Friday) to consider the rejected absentee ballots. Back on Nov. 26th at their last meeting the Board agreed with Coleman (by 5-0) they did not have jurisdiction to rule on these. But they also held the county boards did have jurisdiction (which Colemaniks conceded) AND they asked the State Attorney General Lori Swanson(D) for an opinion or ruling. Now they are going to meet on the matter (and just before Tues. Dec. 16 when they meet to start ruling on each of the challenged ballots one by one.)
Stay tuned, this area is getting interesting!
Hats off Dept.
Remember that scene in "To Kill a Mockingbird" where Atticus Finch has been defending Tom against a rape charge? He's packing up to leave court, and a woman in the "colored" gallery rouses Scout saying, "Stand up Miss Finch." Scout does, sees everyone else in the gallery rising as Atticus walks toward the rear. "Why?" she asks, still sleepy. "Because your father's passing."
Well for all the reporting, wondering and hair-pulling over the MN recount there have been several Kossacks who have been actually doing democracy. Two of them, Sharpener, and MNLatteLiberal, pass by here (in yesterday's comments on the Front Page by kos....and answer why a "stray mark" can disqualify a ballot.)
But first, for all of us in the gallery: "Stand up, Kossacks." "Why?" "Because 2 patriots are passing." (Doffs hat)
Having looked at about 9000 ballots myself (4+ / 0-)
in the last few days, I can say that almost nobody gets it wrong. Maybe 3 of those 9000 (or 0.03%) appear to have been filled in by someone who didn't get the "fill in the oval" concept.
From my slim experience, it appears that a significant majority of challenges arise from the "identifying mark" criterion (e.g., someone signed or initialed or otherwise identified the ballot uniquely) rather than the "voter intent" criterion (where we couldn't tell which oval as indicated).
Also from my experience, the vast majority of challenges on both sides will not be upheld.
I come away from this with a great respect for the optical scan system, and for the Minnesotans who so carefully filled them out.
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by Sharpner on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 02:10:02 PM CST
[ Parent | Reply to This | Recommend ]
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Identifying Mark? (1+ / 0-)
Why does an identifying mark make a ballot invalid? Why does that matter?
by bear83 on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 02:42:24 PM CST
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o
Per Minnesota Statutes 204C.22 (2+ / 0-)
Subd. 13. Identifying ballot. If a ballot is marked by distinguishing characteristics in a manner making it evident that the voter intended to identify the ballot, the entire ballot is defective.
I'm told this is to prevent a form of corruption more common in earlier times when political machines would pay people for voting a particular way and would use the signed or marked ballot to substantiate that the vote occurred and payment was due to that particular person.
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by Sharpner on Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 03:30:23 PM CST
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I looked at close to 10,000 myself (0+ / 0-)
here in Washington County. And while the Franken training was very good overall, and based on the Coleman challenges at my tables WAY better than the other side's, the limits/boundaries of what constitutes an id'ed ballot were left rather vague. Intentionally vague, I'd say :).
Having said that, I've challenged two ballots for intent, where next to a filled in Coleman oval there was a marking in Al's slot, and two for identifying marks. One of those was a partial fingerprint. I sincerely hope that Elias does not give up "my" fingerprint among those 633 today. I also picked up a Franken vote that wasn't registered by the scanner because the voter chose to create his/her own ovals to the right of the names, refusing an easier and more traditional path :).
As to the frequency of voter inability to fill in the oval (once the oval is found), in Washington County I'd put that frequency at 1 per every 200 ballots. Typically it's a check mark or an "x", but those were still picked up by the optical scanner. Some folks lightly crossed the oval, as if to make a mathematical null set sign or the old computer font zero. But surprisingly many, imho, simply refuse to color within the lines!
These are not physically impaired or mentally challenged voters en masse. These are just the "creative" types who cannot be bothered to read instructions.
~Latte
by MN Latte Liberal
Funny Pages:
Laughs from Nevada. No, not Harry Reid promising to kick Joe Liebermann in the pants on national TV. And not Harry being fitted for a crown in the Obama-Reid co-monarchy a Reichwinger was warning about Monday.
No, this is from the OTHER side of Senators from Nevada, the one with the good golf game, great tan and scrub-brush for brains, Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) The NRSC ran a ton of attack ads against Franken in MN.
"Chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee Sen. John Ensign pretty much says Democratic Senate candidate should just concede if the votes don't show him ahead.
"It's pretty clear that Norm Coleman is going to win this race in the recount, just like he did on election day," Ensign said."
Laughs from Daily Kos:
Alright alright, yesterday's diary was, shall we say, comprehensive.....detailed.......fact-stuffed. That did make it a bit.....not-short-winded.....like when a lawyer files 541 pages of something called a "brief". Kossack Dave the Wave:
It almost took the whole election to read the (2+ / 0-)
diary. Did Coleman concede while i was reading?
Thursday Morning with the Star Tribune
The 133 "missing vote" flap from Minneapolis has gotten quite serious. How do we know? The Star Tribune ignored it for the whole first section. On the other hand it does lead the 2nd section, and they put Von Sternberg, Brunswick and Kaszuba on the story (obviously 3 Scandinavians), and saved printing their scoreboard until the jump on B5: margin, +316 Coleman (same as Sec. of State)/ 6000+ ballots challenged (not yet reflecting the Franken 633 stand down)/ 98% counted.
Minneapolis Elections Director Cindy Reichert: first thought the 133 discrepancy was a missing ballot envelope (major search); then thought it might have been a double-count of write in ballots. "That was the theory [about the discrepancy] we developed in the afternoon, but the theory we came up with doesn't jibe with the numbers we have," Reichert said. "We don't know what happened. ... It looks like that wasn't valid speculation."
So now to follow up "among other things, elections workers will examine voter rosters, signatures and voter registration rolls, she said." She will keep the results in the precinct open (ie not report them to the Sec. of State's office) until they reviewed all the precinct's election materials (MN election packrat approach) at Mpls. City Hall.
All of this corresponds exactly to what the Franken campaign requested of her (copy to Sec. of State Ritchie) in a letter......written by David Lillehaug. That means this was serious. Lillehaug is Franken's main man on his legal team; if/when any of this goes to court you'll be hearing a lot from Lillehaug. (Bio: long-time aide to Senator Mondale; aide to Vice-President Mondale; made unsuccessful try for senate nomination himself; chief legal eagle on Wellstone campaign, 2002.
By all accounts (including former staffer and Kossack GrandmaJ) a pain in the (neck) to work under and a mega pain to face on the other side in the courtroom, but a brilliant, passionate, crackerjack attorney who knows law cold----definitely the kind of heavy you want on your side, but generally keep away from the press-----which is why Marc Elias' name and face have been all over the place for the Franken team.)
So if this letter came from Lillehaug....well in chess terms thats moving your queen off her starting square mid-game: always worth pondering, always commanding attention.
One LTE commending election officials for their work and asking them to carefully follow the law so that whoever wins will have a clean election at their back as they go to the Senate. I most heartily agree....(I will grit my teeth if Norm goes there but he will go there with my commendation that it was fair and square.... close as hell, but fair and square).
Gotta get a 2nd cup in the Not-Cincinnati-Bungles mug and then off to work. Heres the latest from yust south east of Lake Wobegon.