MN-Sen: Recount underway

The long recount process for Minnesota's Senate race is under way:

The recount is being carried out in more than 100 sites. It is required under state law because the votes cast for Coleman and Franken differed by less than 0.5 percent. Coleman's 215-vote lead heading into the recount translates to 0.008 percent.

The Secretary of State's results are here. The counters are getting right down to business:

All morning, Beckman roamed the cafeteria, where eight recount stations were set up at tables, each with three election judges. They carefully handed each ballot across the table, where one Franken supporter and one Coleman supporter sat peering intently at each ballot.

The mood was serious, the tones hushed, but every so often, a stir of activity came from a table where a challenge ensued. Beckman would hurry over.

One issue that may loom large in this race - the closest in Minnesota history and one of the closest U.S. Senate races ever - is the issue of discounted absentee ballots.

Ramsey County Elections Manager Joe Manske has been getting some calls like that too. About one in ten Minnesotans voted absentee in this election, close to 300,000 ballots total, and local election officials rejected a small percentage of those ballots.

"A few people, "Manske said. "I wouldn't say that it's a lot."

DFL candidate Al Franken's campaign estimates the rejected ballots number at least in the hundreds, however.

Secretary of State Mark Ritchie said his office doesn't keep a tally of rejected absentee ballots.

With just 215 votes separating the two candidates, obviously, every vote counts.

Meanwhile, Franken is heading to DC to meet with Harry Reid...but it's not what you think:

Al Franken is living in electoral limbo, but he's walking the Senate halls today nonetheless, and meeting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Franken is heading into a recount in Minnesota, and told reporters gathered in a Senate hallway that he was simply in town "to brief the leader on the recount."

...

Franken's real reason for being in town is financial -- he needs to raise money for the recount. Franken attended a fundraiser in Washington last night to help pay for costs related to the recount, including monitors and lawyers in the dozens of sites across Minnesota where the hand recount will take place. Franken is expected to attend another fundraiser in New York tomorow night with Al Gore and George Soros.

Emerging from the meeting with Reid, Franken said that he was "cautiously optimistic" that he would prevail in the recount.

Questionable ballots often skew Democratic, in part because they tend to be cast by first-time voters, elderly voters, and less well-cducated voters - three demographics which tend to go Democratic. So there's reason for some optimism in this race. Obviously, it would be better if Franken were leading at the moment, but it's doubtful either Franken or Coleman is ready to bank on victory in a race this close.

On the web:
Al Franken for U.S. Senate
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