Another Wild Ride

Talk about a roller coaster day. First the news of the recount starts of with a big Franken gain.

Remember when we used to brag about Minnesota’s election system? It seems to have developed a few blemishes since then. The state has now launched an investigation as to how 171 ballots suddenly materialized in a Maplewood precinct, giving Al Franken a 37-vote boost in the process. Soren Dayton points out that the original explanation — a malfunctioning machine — doesn’t wash:

The votes on November 4th were: Coleman 542, Franken 628. After today’s count, they stand at Coleman 596, Franken 719. A net increase of 37 votes for Franken.

One possible explanation, offered by the Maplewood City Clerk, was that the automark scanner malfunctioned during the day and a replacement scanner was brought to the precinct. The ballots that were already cast may not have been re-scanned. But when a scanner malfunctions, it is recorded on the precinct Polling Place Incident Log. Here is the log from Maplewood P-6, a malfunction is not listed.

That lead led the Franken campaign to claim victory.

Al Franken’s campaign attorney Marc Elias said today that, based on its latest internal tally, Franken has taken the lead over Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) for the first time in the recount process.

In a conference call, Elias said Franken leads Coleman by 22 votes at the end of last night’s count.

“We are ahead by 22 votes at the close of business at the end of last night,” Elias said. “We continue to believe we will gain votes during the challenge and review process, and feel good generally where we stand in the recount.”

Which in turn sent the lefty bloggers into spasms of joy! So confident was Team Franken at their pending victory that they magnanimously offered to drop a few hundred of their challenges.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Democrat Al Franken’s lawyer says his campaign is withdrawing 633 of its ballot challenges in Minnesota’s Senate race recount.

Attorney Marc Elias says the campaign is reviewing more challenges, and probably will withdraw many more challenges.

Alas, that joy was short-lived.

What Maplewood giveth, Minneapolis taketh away.

Elections officials in Minnesota's largest city today discovered that one precinct came up 133 ballots short of election day totals, resulting in a net loss for Democratic challenger Al Franken of 36 votes.

The development wipes away what had been a boon for Franken in his bid to overtake Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, after Ramsey County officials found an additional 37 votes for Franken from a Maplewood precinct on Tuesday.

Which lead some lefty bloggers to pull their earlier songs of praise. Oh yeah and Scott County's recount (which Franken lost by 19%) started today!

Of course, Team Franken still has a couple of options open - like the courts, but some wonder if his Senatorial "nuclear" option is no longer an option thanks to Saxby Chamliss' victory in Georgia yesterday. I suspect Gary is right on that front.

Look guys - the bottom line is that the counting is NOT done and until such time as it IS DONE, we should not be declaring victory. That said, things are looking dark for Team Franken. Carver County is still counting and Scott County has not even started. Those are the two reddest counties in the state and if anyone is going to pick up votes there....