Minnesota Is Scanning Early Voters' Ballots

[MineralMan]

as they come in. The results of that won't be released until after the polls close on Tuesday, but we won't have to wait long after that.

That's going to make Election Night coverage in my state a lot more interesting, since we will have information on early vote counts from most counties soon after the polls close, followed by the Election Day vote count not long afterward. Some counties, however, will release combined early and election day totals only after the Election Day ballots are counted.

Minnesota knows how to do elections. We're very good at it.

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Great,speeds up the count on Tuesday.

And those numbers will give County Clerks a idea as to how many Auditors will be needed Tuesday evening.

[MineralMan]

2. Yes.

If any state wants to learn how do handle elections smoothly and accurately, they should ask Minnesota.

[KCDebbie]

3. And what happened with the Coleman/Franken

Thing in 2008? It took months to resolve...

[MineralMan]

5. Every ballot was manually recounted, and the election was

so close that it took a long time. But, we had the paper ballots to go with. Much of the delay was in counting ballots where the wish of the voter wasn't completely clear. It was a very interesting process to watch.

[exboyfil]

7. Do you use optical scan ballots

That is what we use in Iowa. A proven technology pretty much familiar to everyone. You mark your own ballot. The ballot goes into a sealed box. You can always audit the scanned results to the sealed boxes.

Why in God's name did we ever go with the on screen voting. My father in law who is a math professor predicted just difficultly like many others after the 2000 election. In that the Florida Pan Handle voting monitors were actually more fully coloring in the bubbles while the punched chads were hanging on for no votes on the Florida East Coast ballots.

[MineralMan]

8. Yes, we do.

After every election, a number random precincts are selected to be hand audited. That keeps everyone on their toes, I think.

If there's a problem, a hand recount can be done. That has happened statewide, twice, since I moved here. Once for the Franken/Coleman election and once for a Governor's election. It takes quite some time, but gets done.

The scanners are pretty good, too, at spitting poorly marked ballots back out at the voter. Then, the voter can either make sure all boxes are well marked or get a new ballot and re-vote.

[Wellstone ruled]

9. Great to be able to cast your ballot and not

worry someone is going to screw with it,isn't it. Every state should practice Voting ethics like Minnesota. And every State needs a State AG like Swanson who is a Straight arrow.

[Wintryjade]

4. I have so little trust anymore. They can learn the results, know just how many they need for a win.

I don't know Minnesota's voting history, so cool you trust them. I know there were at the least, 5 states that too easily, magically fell on Trumps side.

[Ms. Toad]

6. That's the way most places I'm familiar with do it.

The first votes published are the early voting totals - since all you have to do is push a button to spit out the results (for both scanned and touch screen votes)