Ugh...Recount Is Done And Franken Widens Lead In Minnesota

You have got to be kidding me.

The Secretary of State's office opened and counted 952 previously rejected absentee ballots this afternoon. These are ballots that the Franken and Coleman campaigns agreed had been improperly rejcted under the Supreme Court order addressing the Coleman campaign's challenge to the procedure. After the counting of the previously rejected absentee ballots this afternoon, Franken widened his lead from approximately 40 votes to 225 votes. The recount will formally conclude on Monday at the final meeting of the Board of Canvassers that was convened to preside over this process.

Stupid Scandis.

Will Coleman even bother to sue?

Lawyers for both campaigns have laid the groundwork for lawsuits through public comments and legal maneuvering. In recent weeks, as Franken clung to a small lead, Coleman's lawyers promised a lawsuit over their claim that some ballots duplicated on election night wound up being counted twice in the recount.

He stands to lose as many as 110 net votes if the court were to take Coleman's side on the duplicate ballot issue. Coleman's lawyers could also make an issue of the loss of 133 ballots in Minneapolis, which the Canvassing Board resolved by using the election night count for that precinct. If Coleman were to prevail on that, Franken would lose 46 votes.

Even if Colman wins those 156 votes (a really big if), he'd still be down by 69 votes, which is a bigger margin than he was behind when things started today.

Did I mention those stupid Scandis?

posted by DrewM. at 08:15 PM

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