A good day for Al Franken, but more importantly for the voters of Minnesota. The State Canvassing Board met this morning, and made two decisions which lean toward counting all the votes that were legally cast.
The first vote was a unanimous decision to accept the election night machine tally for the one precinct where the actual ballots are now missing. Although the vote total is two less than the number of signed voters, this is clearly the closest the Board can come to a true total. Based on the election night tally, this precinct will now add 133 votes to the overall total, with a net to Franken of 46 votes.
Obviously, that result is encouraging to Franken -- since those numbers were already included in the campaign's projection of a 2 vote lead. It is also a validation of the right to vote and the obligation of officials to count all votes. A victory for Minnesotans -- and a good precedent for future election contests.
The State Canvassing Board also agreed to recommend that ALL of the county boards revisit the rejected absentee ballots. The recommendation is that the county boards review the ballots for "obvious" errors in the rejection determinations. Those ballots that are deemed wrongly rejected should then be reviewed and counted toward the counties' ORIGINAL election night tallies. New reports would be sent to the State Canvassing Board, which would vote to accept -- or reject -- the new tallies. It must be noted that the State Board seemed fully inclined to accept any and all amended reports, though they believed they could not legally commit themselves to that.
How significant is this? Estimates put the number of wrongly rejected absentee ballots between 1,000 and 2,000. That's a very significant number in such a close election. Most commentators assume these wrongly rejected absentee ballots will favor Franken. Of course, we'll have to wait and see if that proves true.
This also represents a victory for the voters in Minnesota. It should mean that all (or, at least most of) those votes that should have been counted originally will now be counted. As Sec. of State Ritchie said it was a clear message to count "all eligible and legally cast votes". Sec. Ritchie said that "most" of the counties he spoke to were looking for a message from the Board that resubmission of the reports would not be a futile effort. Since the Board has indicated a willingness to accept those reports, and has issued a strong recommendation that the counties reopen the process, it seems unlikely that there will be much, if any resistance.
Finally, the State Canvassing Board has announced a schedule. They will convene on Tuesday, the 16th, to review the challenged ballots. They hope to finish the review by the 19th, and certify the total on that date. In the meeting that seemed to be a firm commitment -- however, in a post-meeting press conference, Sec. Ritchie indicated he thought the Board could manage to review about 1,000 serious (non-frivolous) challenges in those four days. If they are forced to review more challenges, Ritchie indicated the Board would take the time to do it, Ritchie, however, again insisted the campaigns withdraw frivolous challenges, so as to speed up the process.
The only possible wrench in this process? If the County Boards resist this recommendation. Without a doubt, that would send the Franken campaign to court. Any litigation on that end might prove problematic, as Sec. Ritchie insists he would "expect to be done by the evening of the 19th."
If the Board is determined to certify the vote at that time, it might create a Bush v. Gore dilemma for the courts, where the deadline might drive the decision of the courts, even if it meant ordering that legal votes not be counted. With that prospect in mind, one would hope that the County boards will decide on their own to review the rejected ballots, and make fair determinations that will allow counting of all wrongly rejected ballots.
Can the Board get this done by the 19th? Ritchie says "We will put the emphasis on accuracy and transparency, but we are mindful of time." If the review of challenged ballots isn't done on the 19th, the Board will continue until it's work is done. Ritchie said that the Franken camp is about to withdraw over 700 challenges. That would get the total of challenged ballots down to 3500. That is still too many ballots to review in the 4 days set aside. There is the additional complication that there may be challenges with respect to any absentee ballots that might be counted for the first time, during the week ahead. No one on the State Board seemed to realize that this is a serious prospect, and there was no discussion of that potential complication.
Still, if everything goes smoothly -- one week from tonight, we might be celebrating the election of Al Franken to the United States Senate. If anyone doesn't think that matters, I would direct them to consider the vote in the Senate last night on the Big 3 auto bailout. Each vote in the Senate will matter in the years ahead.
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