absentee ballot

Two of the first in a series of a dozen regional meetings that started today in Minnesota’s Senate election recount adjourned this morning after only an hour — with very different results. In Sherburne County, representatives of candidates Al Franken and Sen. Norm Coleman agreed to forward to the State Canvassing Board 15 of 18 unopened absentee ballots that local election officials decided last week had been wrongly rejected. But next door in Anoka County the process prescribed by order of the state Supreme Court quickly collapsed, with the rival campaigns at loggerheads over the Coleman representative’s insistence on including ballots that local officials had not selected as having been wrongly rejected.

Democrats Abroad, a Washington, D.C.-based group, is asking Minnesotans who voted by absentee ballot from outside the country to contact their home elections offices immediately to be sure their votes were counted. In a Nov. 22 e-mail, the group warned that “many absentee ballots are being disqualified” and urged those “who have any doubt at all” to call [...]

Paula Guerra, the St. Paul woman who tried to vote absentee from New York State where she’s caring for an ailing parent, phoned the Ramsey County Elections office Wednesday afternoon to check on her ballot. As the Minnesota Independent reported yesterday, the county had rejected her first absentee ballot due to improper witnessing and she wanted to know whether her second attempt had arrived on time and passed muster. “I thought I would have to live with never knowing,” she said.

You’ve probably heard and read a lot about Minnesota voters whose absentee ballots got rejected and how those non-votes might affect the incredibly close U.S. Senate race between Norm Coleman and Al Franken. But have you heard even one word yet from those voters?

“Oh, crap.”

Well, now you’ve heard two words.