Franken Still in Contention as Minnesota Counts the Votes

by Seth Michaels, Dec 4, 2008

Election 2008 isn’t quite over yet. The closest Senate race in the country is still up in the air, as Minnesota is recounting ballots in the contest between Sen. Norm Coleman and AFL-CIO-endorsed Al Franken. While the recount is scheduled to finish tomorrow, final decisions on thousands of ballots are still pending, which means it could be another week before we know who will be the next senator from Minnesota.

On election night, the initial count showed that, out of some 2.86 million votes cast, just over 200 separated Coleman and Franken—a difference of less than 0.01 percent. Under Minnesota state law, a recount is required in any statewide race where the difference is less than half of 1 percent. The recount is under way and will be completed sometime tomorrow.

So who’s ahead, and who is likely to wind up leading when the counting is finished, as required under state law, tomorrow? That’s a good question, and one that nobody seems to be able to answer.

To give you a sense of how complicated the process of re-counting, and predicting the ultimate result, is, the Minnesota Secretary of State shows Franken holding a slight lead, with about 2 percent left to count, while the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press, using a different metric, show Coleman with a lead of just over 300 votes. The Secretary of State count is starting from scratch, while the two news outlets are comparing recount results in each precinct to the election night results.

Meanwhile, in an e-mail sent today by the Franken campaign, Franken’s staff is predicting that when the recount is done, Franken will lead by 10 votes. Coleman’s campaign has not released their own estimate but Coleman aides have expressed confidence they’d wind up in the lead.

Another complicating factor is that each campaign, with observers present at recounting stations, has the option of challenging ballots. Challenged ballots will be decided by a state Canvassing Board next week, after the initial recounting phase is confirmed. If the margin is close and one side has more of its challenges rejected, the outcome of the recount could still change.

Franken’s campaign withdrew challenges to 633 ballots last night, and Coleman’s campaign withdrew 650 challenges today, reducing the number of challenged ballots that will have to be decided by the state canvassing board next week.

Finally, there are problems afoot with the recount itself. Some 133 votes appear to be missing in a precinct in Minneapolis’s 3rd Ward, and Franken’s campaign is demanding that election officials fix the discrepancy and ensure that every vote cast is counted. The discovery of 171 uncounted ballots in Ramsey County yesterday has been resolved and those votes will be counted. In addition, the Franken campaign is asking state election officials to examine thousands of rejected absentee ballots to ensure that no legally cast votes will be discarded.

The winner of this razor-thin Senate race will begin a six-year term and be a critical vote on legislation regarding health care, energy, jobs and the freedom to form unions. That’s why it’s so important to figure out exactly what happened on Nov. 4. The state needs to count every vote and make sure that voters’ wishes are respected.

We’ll provide further updates as they’re available.

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