Coleman's Lead Dwindling Away as Most of His Challenges are Rejected

by: tremayne

Thu Dec 18, 2008 at 17:56

Senator Norm Coleman's lead over Al Franken is down to less than 10 votes as the Minnesota Canvassing Board dispatches most of the challenges Coleman made during the recount.

After ruling on Coleman challenges until lunch today, the incumbent's advantage steadily dwindled to below 50 by midafternoon and was expected to continue to fall as more of his challenges are addressed today and beyond.

Since then, the lead has shrunk further to 7 votes as of this writing. With hundreds of challenges to go, look for Franken to take the lead, at least on this phases of this protracted process.

tremayne :: Coleman's Lead Dwindling Away as Most of His Challenges are Rejected

Tags: Norm Coleman, Al Franken, recount, Minnesota, Senate, (All Tags)

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Coleman's Lead Dwindling Away as Most of His Challenges are Rejected | 5 comments

Minn Dems (4.00 / 3)

Gratitude for all Minn Dems who have kept on top of this and refused to give up.

by: AliceDem @ Thu Dec 18, 2008 at 23:02:26 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

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when will the MN SOS count back in all the (0.00 / 0)

challenged ballots that have un-challenged? At the end of the recount, both candidates had challenged 3000+, with Coleman up 188 or so. Now Franked has challenged 415 and Coleman approx. 470, with the total being about tied. We still don't know about the 2500+ from each side that have to be counted back.

by: bennytoothpick @ Thu Dec 18, 2008 at 23:06:17 PM UTC

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that was going to be my question (0.00 / 0)

but you beat me to it.

If Franken withdrew more of his challenges than Coleman did, wouldn't that represent several hundred "extra" votes in the Coleman column?

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by: desmoinesdem @ Thu Dec 18, 2008 at 23:30:48 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I think (4.00 / 2)

the SOS is going to wait until after the board finishes the voter intent process (with luck tomorrow). It will then take its time putting everything back where it belongs taking into account the boards review, so maybe by the end of the week.

However the MN Supreme Court has ruled on the rejected absentees with a deadline of Dec 31. So all this may be pushed back even further.

The Court ruled 3-2 that the counties and both campaigns must agree that the absentee ballot was improperly rejected before it can be opened and counted (and presumably challenged for intent). So you can see additional delay is probable.

The Board while not ruling on the issue today, seems inclined to reject as not the proper venue all of the duplicate ballot challenges. So this issue is also likely to wind up in various courts as they are basically kicking it back to the county level.

by: Judeling @ Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 00:18:57 AM UTC

[ Parent ]