RECOUNT UPDATE: FRANKEN TAKES 22 VOTE LEAD OVER COLEMAN
By our count, Al Franken leads Norm Coleman by 22 votes with roughly 138,000 ballots left to be hand counted. Many media outlets are calculating the margin by a different method, relying on raw data from the Secretary of State’s website to conclude that Coleman holds a lead of over 300 votes. However, that calculation assumes that every challenge will be upheld by the state canvassing board, whereas our calculation assumes that the original call by the impartial election judge will stand. So, if the judge calls it for Franken, we say it’s a Franken ballot. Likewise, if the judge calls it for Coleman, we treat it as a Coleman ballot – even if we have challenged it.
http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/franken-claims-lead-2008-12-03.html
http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/1208/Franken_camp_claims_its_in_the_lead.html

TODAY: FRANKEN WITHDRAWS OVER 600 CHALLENGES
This afternoon, the Franken campaign sent a letter to the Secretary of State withdrawing 633 challenges. The fact that we are withdrawing these challenges does not in any way have any effect on the likelihood that Al Franken will win the recount. The only practical impact of what we are doing today is that it will save the state canvassing board the trouble of looking at these challenges themselves. In other words, it will not affect our number (Franken leads by 22), although it will affect the less-accurate number (Coleman leads by over 300) used by some media outlets.
http://www.twincities.com/ci_11128659
Download a copy of the letter here:
http://www.alfranken.com/page/-/docs/recount/20081203_ChallengeWithdrawal.pdf

SECRETARY OF STATE DIRECTS LOCAL ELECTIONS OFFICIALS TO REVIEW UNCOUNTED ABSENTEE BALLOTS
The Secretary of State’s office yesterday directed county auditors and county and city election officials to review all previously rejected absentee ballots and determine whether they fall under one of the four legal reasons for rejecting a ballot. The absentee ballot review will begin on December 8. As of the end of the day, we believe we will have received lists of rejected absentee ballots from all but one county in Minnesota. In the counties that have provided this data, more than 9,200 absentee ballots were rejected. Although we believe that the majority of these 9,200 rejected absentee ballots were properly rejected, it is clear that among them are improperly discounted ballots of Minnesotans who did everything right. We estimate that up to 1,000 ballots were improperly rejected.
http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/35383869.html

KEY POINTS

• Attention will soon shift away from the numbers of this particular recount and toward the fight over whether or not these improperly rejected absentee ballots will be counted — because those are the votes that will determine the next Senator from Minnesota. The Secretary of State has said there are roughly 12,000 absentee ballots rejected this past election. The Secretary of State has also estimated that 500 of them were wrongly rejected — a number greater than the likely difference between Coleman and Franken at the end of the hand count. The Franken campaign actually estimates this pile is even larger — up to 1,000 ballots.
• On top of the improperly rejected absentee ballots, reports of missing ballots in several Minnesota localities must be resolved before any recount is considered accurate or complete. According to the Secretary of State’s website, there are numerous instances in which the number of recorded voters does not equal the number of ballots counted in the recount, thus certain ballots were counted on Election Day but not in the recount.
• We are determined to ensure that every Minnesotan who cast a vote — either in person or via absentee — ought to have that vote counted. And whether it is at the county level, at the canvass board, in the courts or before the United States Senate, we don’t know yet. But because we believe the principle that every vote cast ought to be counted is universal, we remain confident these votes will be counted.
• Members of the State Canvassing Board affirmed our argument that improperly rejecting absentee ballots would amount to disenfranchising Minnesotans. In fact, as the decision to count these ballots emerges as the central discussion in the race, will Norm Coleman be in the extraordinary position of arguing they shouldn’t be counted? Will elected judges and state officials want to look Minnesotans in the eye and say their votes shouldn’t count?
• No recount should be considered complete or accurate until all the ballots are counted — that includes the improperly rejected absentee ballots, and any missing ballots from around the state.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 at 4:29 pm and is filed under Blog, News Clips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.