What is going on in Minn?

[adymond]

Okay if Franken actually wins this I vote to throw Minn out of the Union!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28312760

Franken opens first lead in Minn. Senate race
Final outcome not likely until after the 1st of the year

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Democrat Al Franken edged ahead of Republican incumbent Norm Coleman on Friday for the first time in Minnesota's long-running U.S. Senate recount.

Franken opened up a slight lead on the fourth day of a state Canvassing Board meeting to decide the fate of hundreds of disputed ballots.

The change was notable because Coleman led Franken in election night returns and also held a 188-vote lead before the board took up challenged ballots. But its significance was limited, with the possibility the lead could change again before the long recount ends.

The board had several hundred remaining challenges to resolve, with a goal of doing so by Friday. Both Coleman and Franken are also waiting to see how much they gain from some 5,000 challenges that they withdrew, and the board won't allocate those until Monday.

The outcome of the recount also depends on an estimated 1,600 absentee ballots that were improperly rejected. The state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that those ballots must be counted, and set a Dec. 31 deadline for counties to work with the candidates to identify and count them.

The high court ruling virtually guaranteed that the recount would sprawl into the new year. With Congress set to convene Jan. 6, Gov. Tim Pawlenty said his staff was researching the possibility of a temporary appointment.

But Pawlenty said it was unlikely he would do so because he expected the recount would be resolved by then.

The ballot that put Franken in the lead came from Rochester, where a voter's mark for Franken filled not just his oval but a good chunk of territory next to it. A challenge from the Coleman campaign was rejected.

Before the five-member canvassing board began reviewing challenges Friday, it rejected a request from the Coleman campaign to disqualify hundreds of ballots that the campaign argued were duplicates and had been counted twice.

G. Barry Anderson, a Supreme Court justice serving on the board, said the issue was not the board's to decide.

"While I think there is a serious issue here, the location, extent and remedy lie elsewhere," Anderson said.

And what does the canvassing board do if not make determiniations as to whether a vote is counted or if it's a duplicate? WTF?

[billamj]

Same crap as happened in Fla. with Bush V. Gore. The more counting done the more votes that keep being found for the Dems. Of course the difference here is that everyone involved in the recounts up to and including the AG, who is in charge of the show, are Dems so this time they get the win.

[P89]

Okay if Franken actually wins this I vote to throw Minn out of the Union!

That's why I fly the traditional 13 starred flag...I can pick and choose what states those stars stand for...BTW, Kansas is out too. For personal reasons.

[Dredly]

WTF? when in doubt just make it up I guess... How do you MISS the circle?

[SilentRage]

These aren't our Grandparents Democrats boy's , these people are
Progressives ,,,,, gonna be one hell of a ride from here on out !

[rev214]

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/12/1...triple-digits/

280 and counting [for Mr. Smalley]. God help us.

Not only is this fantastically depressing, it’s fantastically confusing: Franken’s picking up votes by the hundreds because the board’s currently examining ballots challenged by Coleman, i.e. ballots which most everyone thinks are Franken votes but which weren’t counted before because Coleman found some nit to pick about them. They’re not done with those, so expect the lead to grow further this afternoon. Game over for Norm? Nope — there are another 5,000 ballots to be reviewed next week that were initially challenged by one of the candidates and then unchallenged because the nit picked in each case was simply too stupid to waste everyone’s time on. How are those ballots expected to shake out? In Coleman’s favor — but probably not enough:

[625]

WTF is going on in Minn.?

It's called stealing an election. Nothing more, nothing less. The government in this country has become as corrupt as any other at this point. Makes me sick. Since I know how much some of you hate Ann Coulter, here is her take on it. A printer friendly version too! Enjoy.

http://www.anncoulter.com/cgi-local/...gi?article=289

[angus]

I have no faith in the electoral system. I think that ballot-stuffing and crooked elections are commonplace. There seems to be no meaningful enforcement mechanism for fair elections. We might as well live in a banana republic.

[BSH]

Don't be bashing Minnesota. They have some of the best voting regulations & procedures of any state I've ever lived in (five). Their ballots are absolutely unmistakable. The challenges are about the voters, not what's on the ballots. Well, don't rush to judgment, anyway.

By the way, that piece by Coulter cites NO sources. She gets an F.

[625]

Don't be bashing Minnesota. They have some of the best voting regulations & procedures of any state I've ever lived in (five). Their ballots are absolutely unmistakable. The challenges are about the voters, not what's on the ballots. Well, don't rush to judgment, anyway.

By the way, that piece by Coulter cites NO sources. She gets an F.

If you are going to say that Coulter gets an F for not citing sources, I have to assume that you just started to read political columns. They almost never do, whether they be from the left or right. If you can prove her wrong, by all means, do so.