Franken Up by 209 Votes So Far

by: Matt Stoller

Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 12:49


I'm watching at The Uptake.  Franken is now up in the tally.  By the Star Tribune's count, Franken is up by 209 votes.

Update (Chris): Now Franken leads by 262 265 votes. And it just keeps going up.
Matt Stoller :: Franken Up by 209 Votes So Far

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Franken Up by 209 Votes So Far | 14 comments
Lots of caveats (0.00 / 0)
Keep in mind that the Star-Tribune's number has a lot of caveats.

John McCain <3 lobbyists
la la la la la la la (4.00 / 2)
I can't hear you. La la la la.

;)

[ Parent ]
All these caveats and lawsuits are hurting my brain (0.00 / 0)
I haven't followed this whole thing closely enough to have a decent grip on the implications of whatever's going on.  

Can't we go back to a simpler time when it was all about The Lizard People?

[ Parent ]
if Nate silver is correct (4.00 / 2)
they took the lizard people vote away from Franken on the grounds there might be someone named "lizard people" and thus it would be an identifying mark. Didn't seem consistent with their other rulings. Some kind of anti-lizard people discrimination.  
[ Parent ]
Is there a non-ridiculous way for someone to have that name? (4.00 / 1)
Maybe there could be a woman named "Liz Ard People," or "Liz Ardpe Ople."  Either way, her parents would have to have had a very ungenerous sense of humor!
[ Parent ]
Not quite (0.00 / 0)
It wasn't an identifying mark issue; it was that "Lizard People" was also in the write-in slot on the Senate side, and thus was an overvote. The Justices said they couldn't say that the voter didn't intend a protest vote for Lizard People.
[ Parent ]
That's not what I heard (0.00 / 0)
Like tremayne, I heard that it was disqualified because of an identified mark.

I can't remember where I heard that, and it sounded pretty stupid, so maybe whoever told me that was just full of shit.  

[ Parent ]
BP is right (0.00 / 0)
"Lizard People" was in the write-in slot.  The board had previously ruled that if someone wrote in something in the write-in slot and didn't fill in the oval, it still counted as a write-in vote.  Because no one could prove that "Lizard People" is not someone's name, it was seen as a write-in vote for "Lizard People."  Since the oval was filled in next to Franken's name and there was a write-in vote, the ballot was classified as an overvote.

John McCain <3 lobbyists
[ Parent ]
Nope (0.00 / 0)
It was discounted as an identifying mark, because in a similar scenario, someone wrote in "Brett Favre" in the write in spot on a Coleman ballot, filled in the circle for Coleman, and it WAS counted as a vote for Coleman.

John McCain.  Wrong for America.
[ Parent ]
That's not true (0.00 / 0)
May be there was inconsistency on how they ruled, but the Lizard People ballot was counted as an overvote.

John McCain <3 lobbyists
[ Parent ]
Supposedly doesn't include lots of withdrawn challenges.. (4.00 / 1)
Franken I think has withdrawn more challenges, meaning that Coleman will actually gain dozens if not hundreds of votes.  I don't know whether Franken's buffer is large enough yet to win.
Franken's camp is confident of being ahead (0.00 / 0)
That seems to be the tone from them of late, and their claims of what the actual margin will be has been pretty accurate so far, hasn't it?  
[ Parent ]
That's correct (0.00 / 0)
Franken has withdrawn more, which means Coleman will gain probably in the low hundreds of votes.  That said, I believe Franken has won more of his challenges than Coleman has, so he's probably closed the margin a decent amount.

John McCain <3 lobbyists
[ Parent ]
Nate Silver projects slight Franken lead (0.00 / 0)
Nate says that his very fuzzy math will have Franken ahead by ~40 votes after all challenged ballots are decided and withdrawn challenges are counted.

John McCain <3 lobbyists
Franken Up by 209 Votes So Far | 14 comments
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