One challenge headed to the state so far in Plymouth
Posted on November 19th, 2008 – 1:47 PMBy James Shiffer
The bubble beside Norm Coleman’s name appeared to have both an X and a squiggle in it, but the Al Franken campaign wants the state Canvassing Board to rule on whether it should count. That’s the only challenge in the special envelope in Plymouth so far, according to Sandy Engdahl, the city clerk and the official running the city recount.
The Canada geese milling on the grounds and parking lot of Plymouth City Hall were oblivious to the gaggle of election officials and observers inside. The drone of “Franken” and “Coleman” was accompanied by the swishing of paper in Medicine Lake Room A. Early on, Engdahl had to admonish some candidate representatives from trying to tell her counters how to count. Clearly, she said, the recount watchers are “very passionate,” but she has to remind them of everyone’s roles in this civic drama.
Eight of the 24 precincts had been counted by 1:45 p.m., and the only challenged ballot, in Engdahl’s view, was clearly a vote for Coleman. Nevertheless, the Franken campaign was allowed to seek a second opinion.
1317 Responses to “One challenge headed to the state so far in Plymouth”
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November 19th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
That’s my vote. I tried to write in Prince.
November 19th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
If they cant follow direction, then the vote shouldn’t be counted!!!!
November 19th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
now if the cameras and press are being told to stay back in other precints, how come the strib got a picture of a challenged ballot? And for the record…i think the voter’s intent was to put an x in coleman’s oval, then realized that they had to fill in the whole thing… or maybe that they filled it in and then wanted to cancel or maybe….
November 19th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
What does the rest of the ballot look like? If it’s covered with perfectly-filled in ovals, than this is probably a mistake that the voter tried to eradicate and shouldn’t be counted. If all the other marks on the ballot are as slipshod as this one, then it should be counted as a legitimate vote.
November 19th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Mickey - I don’t recall hearing that from you in 2000 when Florida votes were being examined.
November 19th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
I agree with Shiffer that the vote is clearly for Coleman. If the voter wanted to change their vote, they would have requested a new ballot.
November 19th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
“this is probably a mistake that the voter tried to eradicate”
Congrats, phh. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve seen on the internet today.
November 19th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Oh, I beg your pardon, Mr. Jass. I suppose I should have said “it should be counted for Coleman, regardless of the obvious intent of the voter.” Let’s just count ALL the votes for Coleman! Then we can wrap this up in an evening and go out for beer.
November 19th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
[…] to Ace and The American Spectator and The Star Tribune for pulling this […]
November 19th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
I agree with phh. How could anyone think that this person wanted to vote for Coleman. Can I get a rock now.