Franken Gets Big Win At Canvass Board

[kpete]

Franken Gets Big Win At Canvass Board
By Eric Kleefeld - December 12, 2008, 11:48AM

Al Franken's chances of winning the Minnesota recount may have just gone up astronomically.

The state canvassing board just voted unanimously that absentee ballots that were initially rejected because of clerical errors -- and the current estimate from the hearing is that there could be nearly 1,600 of them, based on some extrapolation -- should be counted, probably the single biggest issue that the Franken campaign has been hammering ever since this recount began, and which really seemed up in the air going into this hearing.

The board can't directly order the county officials to do the counting, only making a formal request to go back and count the votes and then submit amended totals. But many counties have already begun or finished the process of sorting the rejected absentees at the board's request, and board members did castigate any election officials who wouldn't do so, with some of them even leaving open the option of seeking a court order if necessary.

Because of all that, it seems very likely that the vast majority of these ballots will be counted before this is over -- and it could possibly seal the deal for Franken. Pre-election polling showed him winning the overall pool of absentee ballots by a solid margin, so it seems pretty reasonable to assume that the newly-counted votes will break for Al. If that proves to be correct -- and if Norm Coleman is unable to stop it through further litigation -- Franken will probably pull ahead of Coleman and win the election.

Late Update: Just to clarify, this was a separate question from the missing Minneapolis ballots, which they ruled on earlier and we posted on below. The board took on two crucial issues this morning, and on both of them ruled in favor of the Franken camp's position.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/12/franken_gets_big_win_at_canvas.php

[npincus]

1. you beat me to it!

meeting live blog: http://politicalblogs.startribune.com/bigquestionblog/?p=1246

[pnwmom]

2. Great news on both counts. Thanks, kpete! n/t

[EFerrari]

3. These extra innings are killing me.

lol

Thanks goodness, though, this didn't happen in a different venue -- like NM or CA or CO. Minnesota really seems to have its act together.

[CatWoman]

7. ROFL!!

I like the way you put that :)

:hi:

[ClarkUSA]

4. So much for all the griping about how Franken's "celebrity" counted against him...

Thanks for the good news. I can't wait to send a note of congrats to Al.

[avaistheone1]

6. Finally some good news!

[ClarkUSA]

8. Franken is playing this right... Coleman's being investigated by the FBI did not win any votes.

:)

[arewenotdemo]

5. gawd that would be so great

[Jersey Devil]

9. Yes, but Ramsey County, which includes St Paul, refuses

to cooperate. It is one of the biggest Dem strongholds which will no doubt affect the total number of absentees counted unless someone gets a court order to force them to do it.

http://ww2.startribune.com/news/metro/elections/returns/2008/recount/absentee.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUs

[musicblind]

10. I'm confused. If a canvasing board ruled they had to do it... how can they legally refuse?

:shrug:

I don't really understand all the rules so if someone can help me out then that would be great :)

[Jersey Devil]

11. Ya got me, but the Minn AG told the canvassing board they

could recommend but not order the county boards to sort and count the ballots. If some are counted and some are not, then it seems to me that there is an equal protection issue and it will definitely wind up in court.

[ShadowLiberal]

14. The board technically does not have the power to force them to do it

That's why Coleman has previous said before the board that they should rule against Franken. The board does not have the power to make the state count all wrongly rejected absentee ballots, they can only try to encourage other election officials to count them.

[Cha]

12. Could someone enlighten me on

why the Board would reject a ballot on "clerical issues" before and decide to accept them now? Not complaining:)

[Bjorn Against]

13. The board never rejected the ballots...

The ballots were initially rejected by election judges, and not all of the election judges actually know much about Minnesota election law. The ballots weren't rejected as "clerical issues" they were rejected for other reasons, but because the reasons they were rejected were not valid reasons to reject a ballot they amount to clerical issues. The Coleman campaign believes that if an election judge makes a mistake and decides to throw out a ballot that shouldn't have been thrown out that the mistake should not be corrected. Essentially the Republicans are arguing that clerical errors are a valid reason for disenfranchising voters, can you imagine the precedent that would set if certain election judges knew that they could "mistakingly" throw out ballots based on clerical errors and the voters would have no recourse? It would greatly increase the potential for election fraud, and it says a lot that the Republicans are trying to set such a precedent.

[lojasmo]

15. Take Duluth for instance

60% of absentee ballots were rejected because the signatures were not dated, which is not required by law.

[Cha]

17. WOW! And, thank

you, lojasmo. Franken must have an amazing team working for him.

[Cha]

16. You have been

Very enlightening..thank you, MN Against Bush.

It says a lot but nothing we didn't already know about how dirty the current crop of republicans are.

[Tribetime]

18. excellent news

This is the first time I really felt he will win. Eat shit Orally, it will be great to see Sen. Franken.

[uponit7771]

19. nice

[Richard Steele]

20. K&R

[davidpdx]

21. Great news, but so far to go yet before victory

And god knows how many court cases....

[sabbat hunter]

22. Current recount from MN SoS

RECOUNT Number of Ballots for Coleman (as recounted) 1208935 41.40
RECOUNT Number of Ballots for Franken (as recounted) 1208747 41.39


100% recounted.

They need to have those absentee ballots go their way big time to pull this out.

[Hokie]

24. This does not include the challenged ballots that will be reviewed next week

It is difficult to tell how many votes Al will gain from those but according to information from the Franken campaign the number could be 150 or more. They were indicating that they were within a few votes or even ahead at the end of the recount. Since none of the challenges are included in published totals only the campaigns have any idea. Coleman's campaign has been mum. The consensus seems to be they wrongfully rejected absentee ballots that have never been included in any count will break for Franken. If that is true it really does look good for Franken. We will know more by the end of next week.

I think it is important that Franken be in the lead by the end of next week. If Franken is in the lead and Coleman is the one pursuing this in court trying to keep votes from being counted then Al will have the upper hand if this goes to the Senate for resolution.

[sabbat hunter]

25. Chances are

based on history, all challenged ballots will be counted in the end

RECOUNT COLEMAN and Other Ballots Challenged By FRANKEN 3278
RECOUNT FRANKEN and Other Ballots Challenged By COLEMAN 3377

Franken needs the absentee ballots to be counted and them to come out heavily in his favor to win this thing.
http://electionresults.sos.state.mn.us/20081104/SenateRecount.asp

At the end of the recount, the official SoS recount, Franken is still behind, not including the challenged ballots.

The official SoS site has the number of challenged ballots.

[MoonRiver]

23. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!......

:bounce::woohoo::woohoo::bounce: