Minnesota Independent

Recount Day 4: Coleman and Franken are neck-and-neck — in challenging ballots

By Chris Steller | 11.22.08 | 9:10 pm

Even with limited activity Saturday in Minnesota’s statewide U.S. Senate recount, Al Franken and Norm Coleman managed to challenge another 368 ballots. The stack that the State Canvassing Board will have to review is now 1,893 ballots high, after two-thirds of the ballots that were cast Nov. 4 have been recounted. Unless the candidates’ campaigns change course, the challenges are on pace to reach nearly 3,000 ballots by the time the recount ends.

Recount Day 3: Franken, Coleman push ballot challenges past 1,500

By Chris Steller | 11.21.08 | 9:16 pm

What seemed a far-fetched math geek dream only hours ago came true tonight: On Day Three of Minnesota’s U.S. Senate recount, the Al Franken and Norm Coleman campaigns again increased the number of challenged ballots by more than 40 percent over the previous day, to 1,525. That number dwarves by a factor of 13 the current 115-vote gap between Franken and Coleman, and suggests the challenged-ballot count will continue to grow exponentially, as MnIndy predicted Friday morning.

MNrecount Liveblog: State Canvassing Board certifies election results

By Chris Steller | 11.18.08 | 1:04 pm

The Minnesota Independent liveblogged as the state’s Canvassing Board met today to approve a plan for a recount in the U.S. Senate election. After the meeting, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie held a press conference and we liveblogged that too. Find out why someone said the word “Embarass,” what Mark Ritchie had for breakfast, and whether the recount will really take until August.