Franken camp withdraws more challenges, says some counties not sorting absentee votes

Al Franken’s Senate campaign said today it was withdrawing some 425 more of the ballot challenges its representatives made during Minnesota’s statewide election recount. Together Franken and his opponent, Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, made 1,283 initial withdrawals last week from their combined total of 6,655 challenged ballots. Franken recount attorney Marc Elias told reporters the campaign would continue reviewing — and if need be, withdrawing — challenged ballots through Dec. 16, when the State Canvassing Board meets to begin a three-day process of tallying the recount.

Déjà vu meets snafu at recount Ground Zero

Minneapolis Precinct 1, Ward 3 is now the latest and greatest Ground Zero of messed-up election practices to be exposed during Minnesota’s statewide recount in the U.S. Senate contest between Democrat Al Franken and Republican incumbent Norm Coleman. It’s there, in the Dinkytown neighborhood on the edge of the University of Minnesota campus, that poll workers recorded 133 more votes than they have ballots to show for it. It’s also there that students trying to vote via Minnesota’s same-day registration process last month were turned away — in a re-run of a major snafu at another campus polling place during the last general election two years ago.

Franken to Ritchie: ‘Ballots have gone missing’ — so find them

The Al Franken for Senate campaign is asking Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie to instruct all counties to redouble their efforts to find missing ballots. “There are votes in Minnesota that aren’t even being accounted for, much less being counted,” spokesman Andy Barr told reporters at a press conference at Franken headquarters in St. Paul this afternoon.

Video and more after the jump.