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COME MONDAY MORNING, WILL VOTES HAVE MYSTERIOUSLY SHIFTED AGAIN? OR, WILL MINNESOTANS BE ABLE TO EXPECT THAT THEIR VOTES COUNTED AND COLEMAN STILL WON THIS ELECTION?
By Michael B. Brodkorb | November 9, 2008
It’s been an amazing week in Minnesota.
First, U.S. Senator Norm Coleman wins the election with 721 votes.  Don’t take my word for it, as that was the result according to the unofficial results of the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office.
Second, as the week went on, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie’s office did nothing to satisfactorily address the reality that as the canvass proceeded, the inequity in the changes cost Coleman over 500 votes.
Statistically improbable, completely murky, and simply hard to believe.
Third, Mountain Iron electoral results underscored that Ritchie’s office has been M.I.A. when it comes to the issue of ballot security. When 100 votes “magically†appear without any credible explanation and Ritchie simply shrugs it off and calls people’s concerns “politicalâ€, then Minnesotans should be extremely concerned about who is minding the electoral store.
Fourth, as Al Franken and his team of outside agitators attempt to overturn the results of the election, we learned yesterday that 32 absentee ballots were hanging out in the hands, or car, or somewhere in Minneapolis. If not for the fact that someone was actually at Coleman’s campaign office at 7:45 p.m.on Friday night – nobody would have ever been the wiser that these votes A.) existed, or B.) were going to be counted!
Minnesotans have come to expect that its electoral system is safe and secure. Whether it was Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, a Republican, or Secretary of State Joan Growe, a DFLer, nobody ever woke up in the morning thinking that the state’s election system would be influenced by politics or outside interests.
Ritchie, someone who caught using his official office to fund his campaign, is under the gun in this election. His political associations (and members of his official staff) with groups that make no secret of their desire to influence the outcome of the election through any means necessary raises serious questions about his ability to conduct this recount fairly and above-board.
Years ago, a secretary of state like Growe would have been aghast at the idea of using her office to advance the efforts of either her political party, or her political allies. As an unabashed DFLer, Growe rose above petty partisan politics in her position and created confidence and stability in an office that we expect to not play political games with our votes.
Can Minnesotans expect the same from Ritchie?
Why hasn’t Ritchie expressed strong, public concerns about the vote shifts that we are seeing? Instead, he rushes in to excuse them, without providing any evidence that he really even bothered to check it out.
Why, knowing that he has been an extreme (I emphasize, “extremeâ€) partisan during his time in office, wouldn’t he try to create some distance between himself and the candidates for public office he has supported?
Does Mark Ritchie have a conflict of interest?
How else can I explain his lack of effort to more aggressively secure ballots, his lack of concern over 32 “found†absentee ballots and his lack of strong public acknowledgment that someone holding onto absentee ballots for 72 hours before admitting they have them might undermine confidence in the ballot security of the system he oversees?
The eyes of Minnesota, forget the outside groups, are squarely focused on Mark Ritchie. Ritchie time under the political microscope will go one of two ways: he will start being the kind of “non-partisan ” secretary of state he claimed he would be when campaigning, or, he will continue to be hyper-partisan secretary of state he’s been so far. Which path will Ritchie choose?
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41 Responses to “COME MONDAY MORNING, WILL VOTES HAVE MYSTERIOUSLY SHIFTED AGAIN? OR, WILL MINNESOTANS BE ABLE TO EXPECT THAT THEIR VOTES COUNTED AND COLEMAN STILL WON THIS ELECTION?”
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November 9th, 2008 at 10:43 AM
Quite simply, the votes must be counted. The party affiliation of the secretary of state is irrelevant.
November 9th, 2008 at 10:48 AM
Michael, you have a half ass grasp of the situation and what has been going on in the last few days. Additionally, you are a fucktard. That is all.
November 9th, 2008 at 11:15 AM
Hey I was just cleaning out my car and found several hundred ballots.
“THEY MUST BE COUNTED” ( unless they’re military and accordind to Albore can be tossed)
November 9th, 2008 at 11:31 AM
Michael’s 3rd grade logic:
If Coleman wins, the system works.
If Al Franken wins, the system is a travesty.
Question to Michael…
Is there any scenario under which Al Franken could be elected Senator where you would be content with?
I didn’t think so. No need to reply.
November 9th, 2008 at 11:39 AM
Poor Mikey. Like being Bush v. Gore’d?
November 9th, 2008 at 11:57 AM
Quite simply, the votes must be counted. The party affiliation of the secretary of state is irrelevant.
The votes must be counted that were votes on Tuesday. After Tuesday they’re no longer votes. There is a voting DAY, there is a DEADLINE, otherwise losing candidates could find ways to continue to find mysterious votes for weeks until they win, claiming “we must count all the votes”.
I predict some other liberal nutjob “election official” is going to have more votes they found cleaning out their garage or something. There will be continued “findings” like this until some judge with balls steps up and puts a stop to this theft of office.
By the way, the “judge” from this most recent thing had her brother tossed from office in Brooklyn Park this past week. I don’t know if it runs in the family but he was a lefty nutjob, along with his fellow council member wife (she’ll get the boot in two years).
November 9th, 2008 at 12:04 PM
Poor Judy, probably doesn’t know the basic facts of Florida 2000. Bush won every count of the Florida ballots.
Washington Govnernor, 2004. Republican won, but more and more votes for the Democrat kept being “found” in left wing Seattle.
November 9th, 2008 at 12:10 PM
Using ‘wins the election’ and “the result according to the unofficial results” in the same paragraph. Funny! Are you competing for King Shameless with Sen Coleman, or just content in sharing it with him!
“Secretary of State Mark Ritchie’s office did nothing to satisfactorily address the reality that as the canvass proceeded” LIE! You can’t just hear what you want, SoS Ritchie did an excellent job at explaing everying MORE than satsifactorily.
“Third, Mountain Iron electoral results underscored that Ritchie’s office has been M.I.A. when it comes to the issue of ballot security.” LIE, it is a local/county issue.
Fourth: Court dismissed claim.
“”Why hasn’t Ritchie expressed strong, public concerns about the vote shifts that we are seeing?”"
Because they are a simple anomaly in any canvassing process! But you know that.
http://www.alfranken.com/page/-/docs/StatewideVoteTotalDifferences.pdf
“”How else can I explain his lack of effort to more aggressively secure ballots”"
You don’t have to, you jsut make stuff up to discredit decent hard working CROSS PARTY local election officials. Do you realize that every time you open your mouth you are digging on your own!
No, the eyes of Minnesota are focused on a sitting Senator, and his shameless attempts to by-pass the rule of law and discredit a process that is rock tight and fair.
This is moving away from Shameless to flat out disgusting. I never knew you could get any lower! What are you afraid of?
Flash
November 9th, 2008 at 12:11 PM
I think military ballots which were cast according to the rules, whatever the rules might be, should and must be counted.
Obviously, ballots must be cast by election day. But once they are, they must be counted, regardless of any subsequent act of any election official. It’s not the voters’ fault that some election official may or may not have remembered to carry in a bag of ballots from the car.
November 9th, 2008 at 12:18 PM
Dave: — “Bush won every count of the Florida ballots. ”
In the Media Press pool recounts, Gores would have won had there been a statewide recount using all forms of voter intent criteria. But there was no such recount in process and Gore requested only select recounts of three counties. In that case, if the count, stopped by the Supreme court, would have been allowed to continue Bush still would have won. Bush won fair and square, I have never disputed that race.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12623-2001Nov11.html
–
“â€(I)f Gore had found a way to trigger a statewide recount of all disputed ballots, or if the courts had required it, the result likely would have been different. An examination of uncounted ballots throughout Florida found enough where voter intent was clear to give Gore the narrowest of margins.—
“â€The study showed that if the two limited recounts had not been short-circuited — the first by Florida county and state election officials and the second by the U.S. Supreme Court — Bush would have held his lead over Gore, with margins ranging from 225 to 493 votes, depending on the standard.—
–
November 9th, 2008 at 12:22 PM
Maybe it’s also worth remembering that when the counting was stopped so was the counting of the military ballots. Evidently, the Bush forces weren’t that interested in counting the ballots of the military, when there was nothing to gain from their votes.
November 9th, 2008 at 12:53 PM
Gee, I wonder why?
“Gore requested only select recounts”
November 9th, 2008 at 1:03 PM
Brodkorb-
You are either absolutely nuts or you are more of a deceptive liar than you’ve ever been before. I seriously cannot believe this post.
Try looking at the history of canvassing in Minnesota. This stuff is normal, and Coleman (nor Franken) has been ever declared the winner yet. Coleman never won the election – the results have never been certified yet.
November 9th, 2008 at 1:19 PM
Hiram:
Lets recap the history of the military ballots.
During the Carter administration the state of Florida and the Carter Justice Department entered into a ruling that accounted for how Florida was to count military oversea ballots.
They were given an extra eleven days for their ballots to arrive. They are all counted on the same day. Then they are added into the election results.
In 2000 all of sudden these were the most important ballots in US history. Democrat lawyers throughout the state challenged and kicked out ballots (including some that were Democrats when opened), because they figured these would be Bush votes and was trying to keep the growth in Bush’s margin down to help the creation of votes for Gore in the recount.
after Joe Liberman said their votes should count and Gore’s Florida chairman said they should count (note they both said this after they thought there couldn’t be counted anymore not before) and after the first Florida State Supreme Court ruling the Bush team went to court in several counties and got rejected ballots relooked. Bush gained something like 180 votes because of this effort.
so the Bush team worked very hard to try to get the military votes counted before the results were certified by Katherine Harris the sunday after Thanksgiving.
The difference between what you thought was reality and the reality of 2000 was that the Bush team had already worked their butt off to count the votes.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
November 9th, 2008 at 1:21 PM
Mike,
I never woke up feeling the election was safe and secure under Mary Kiffmeyer’s control; quite the opposite; and you accuse Mark Ritchie of being an extreme partisan? Apparently you only have problems with democrats and democratic victories.
November 9th, 2008 at 1:31 PM
Ah, yes, reputable GOP Secretaries of State….like Ken Blackwell of Ohio? I never felt confident with Mary Kiffmeyer, either. I feel much more secure with Mark Ritchie.
November 9th, 2008 at 1:34 PM
Aron:
since canvannesing boards haven’t certified Obama why did Obama hold a victory celebration on November 4. Shouldn’t he have waited until enough canvassing boards declared him the winner.
The perception is based on the votes that have been counted Norm Coleman won a very narrow victory in a highly contested race. After the victory is consider to have happened (you don’t need a certified count for that) all of suddens votes keep turning up with mysterous reasons that give Franken more votes. It looks like votes are being created for Franken and the Secretary of State doesn’t care.
The problem is even if this stuff is normal (somehow Mccain won Indiana not Obama) it looks suspicous.
Lets say somebody in Pine county wrote something down on a piece of paper wrong you still have to be believe:
* It was never entered into a computer that would’ve caught it.
* It wasn’t double checked by a second person (you mean one person was trusted to write down these results)
* In Mt. Ridge 100 votes weren’t recorded for Obama and Franken. Franken didn’t have a 100% percent vote that matched Obama yet in this one precint and with all these new votes they matched.
* 32 new ballots show up on Friday. In the car of an election employee. Shouldn’t they have been kept in an office. How did the ballots get into the car to begin with?
If you were Mark Ritchie wouldn’t you to try to show that the election results are legitimate be on the phone and making sure that each one was a legitimate mistake. One large mistake maybe. Two large mistakes is suspicious. We’re at three. This election has the apparence of the DFL trying to steal the election and the Secretary of State has made it clear keep doing it guys since Franken still need another 300 votes!
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
November 9th, 2008 at 1:39 PM
West Metro:
so a good Secretary of State when hundreds of thousands of potentially false registerations are turned in and doesn’t care that person is a good Secretary of State.
Ken Blackwell was called bad because he tried to uphold the rules.
His replacement is called good because she didn’t try to uphold the rules and allow cheating.
So I assume you work in the Secretary of State’s office and is helping Ritchie overlook questionable items.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
November 9th, 2008 at 1:41 PM
What part of “unofficial” do you not understand?
November 9th, 2008 at 1:43 PM
Bogghutt:
Which election result weren’t you confident in. There was a heated recount in a race between Kennedy and Mingee which was reported that there should be a recount.
I didn’t remember any weird circumstances in that race like this. Since I messed them why don’t you list the hundreds of things that I missed during that recount that Kiefmeyer did wrong?
When we see no posts naming the races that Kiefmeyer messed up we will know you’re just writing the democrat party line.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
November 9th, 2008 at 1:48 PM
BREAKING NEWS!!
My wife’s cousins brothers friend, who was an election judge, just called to say that he had left a packet of 300 absentee ballots in our spare bedroom on election night.
See, it was late, and by the time he had driven up from Eden Prarie to deliver them to the SOS, the office was closed. Instead of risking a sleepy eyed drive all the way back to EP, he spent the night at our house….all very reasonable and normal.
Well I just checked, and there they were, right where he said they’d be!
We’re gonna unseal them this afternoon and drop them into the appropriate ballot box. Of course, we won’t even bother to look at them in any way before hand…very normal and by-the-book.
November 9th, 2008 at 2:08 PM
Mr. TJ Swift:
Absentee ballots are in double envelopes. These ballots are marked on the outside of the envelope the Names of voter and witness. They both need to signoff under penalty of perjury. Within these envelopes are security envelopes containing the voters ballot.
If we are talking a bunch of manila security envelopes bouncing in the back of a car, then you bet, they should be thrown out. But if the outer Voter ID w/precinct Info and witness signature envelopes are still intact, then they should be submitted to the sate canvassing board to verify integrity. The Board is 2 Supreme Court Judges, the District Judges and the SoS.
Flash
November 9th, 2008 at 2:14 PM
Here is a piece of history for your to dwell on. It was early Kiffmeyer. I have as much confidence in the process then, as I do now.:
http://tinyurl.com/6cru35
Minge concedes defeat to Kennedy
This article submitted by Michael Jacobson on 12/20/00.
Mark Kennedy The second closest Congressional election in Minnesota history came to a close last week when Rep. David Minge (DFL-Montevideo) conceded defeat to his Republican challenger, Mark Kennedy (right) of Watertown.
Minge had requested a recount in the Second Congressional District, which had been done in 29 counties, including Meeker and Kandiyohi. The ballots for the city of Paynesville, Paynesville Township, the city of Eden Valley, and a precinct of Eden Lake Township were recounted.
Disputed ballots had been brought back to the Wright County District Court for ruling when Minge gave in. Around 2,000 ballots were brought back to court for rulings, and lawyers for both candidates agreed on splitting 1,600 of them, leaving some 300 ballots to wrangle with in court. One day in the courtroom, on Monday, Dec. 11, produced rulings on only a handful of ballots.
Even Minge’s most favorable projections had him losing by 50 votes, so he conceded on Tuesday, Dec. 12, just hours after the Press went to press last week.
Minge’s staff claimed the recount had narrowed Kennedy’s lead to 148, while Kennedy’s team announced last week that his lead had grown to 234.
The concession means the official tally will be the one certified after the Nov. 7 election. Kennedy officially got 138,957 to Minge’s 138,802. In percentage points of the vote, the difference was less than a tenth of a point, 48.10 for Kennedy to 48.05 for Minge.
The closest Congressional election in Minnesota, according to the Star Tribune, was the 1986 race between Arlan Stangeland and Collin Peterson in the Seventh District. Stangeland won by 121 votes.
In comparison to Florida, the recount process in Minnesota worked well. “Minnesotans can hold their heads up high,” said Kennedy in a written statement. “The result of the hand recount of the more than 290,000 ballots in the Second District proves how accurate our elections are here in Minnesota.”
No appeals here. the recount was handled in one courtroom. Three-person teams with a representative for each candidate and a neutral third party visited each county and any contested ballots were brought back to court for rulings.
When the numbers indicated Minge had lost, he admitted defeat to his challenger.
“In Minnesota, the will of the voters was the basis of victory,” Kennedy said in a radio interview last week.
Minge pledged to help in transition for Kennedy, who will be sworn in on Jan. 3. Minge is serving his fourth term in the House of Representatives. He participated in the December session of Congress. He announced no definite plans for his life after Congress, other than to stay active in policy making.
“I have tried to work extremely hard every day to represent all the citizens of southwestern Minnesota,” said Minge in a written statement to the media. “I have enjoyed working with the people from both parties on important matters like protecting the Minnesota River, restoring fiscal discipline to the federal budget, fighting for family farmers, and working to help rural communities. I hope these efforts will continue into the future.”
November 9th, 2008 at 2:30 PM
Wow. A bunch of Democrat partisans trust a lying Ritchie over Kiffmeyer. I’ll try to hold back my shock.
And please, save the outrage for Scaifenet, Flash. *snicker*
November 9th, 2008 at 2:36 PM
Troy:
“It was early Kiffmeyer. I have as much confidence in the process then, as I do now.:”
I thought it was pretty clear I respect the professionalism of both, and trust them equally to do their job.
You guys shoot from the hip too much. You really need to actually start reading content and context better!
At this point, I don’t care who wins. I want the process to be followed, the law to be adhered to, and a winner certified.
Flash
November 9th, 2008 at 3:15 PM
Say Flash?
Thanks for that interesting story…but I missed the part about the magic time stamp, the car trunk ballots that showed up five days after the election, the mislabeled vote tallies, the…well you get the picture, don’t you?
Sure you so.
BWAHAHAHA!
I can smell the guilt pouring off of you moonbats right through the cable modem. I must suck to have to always be making crap up to cover up for a bunch of lying, conniving scumbags, doesn’t it?
Well, that’s life in the party of Scrubs!
November 9th, 2008 at 3:21 PM
Flash I’m ready for ya:
Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
November 11, 2000,
Saturday, Metro Edition
A new count shows a narrower Kennedy-Minge gap
Bill McAuliffe; Staff Writer
Results of the Second District congressional election continued to fluctuate Friday, with the secretary of state’s Web site indicating Republican Mark Kennedy had unseated DFLer David Minge by 150 votes, compared with a margin of 438 on Thursday.
Bob Schroeder, deputy secretary of state, said the changes reflect adjustments based on preliminary reviews of the totals in each county. With the new count, Kennedy’s overall total dropped by 32 votes and Minge’s rose by 256
November 9th, 2008 at 3:23 PM
Say Flash?
Thanks, once again, for that interesting story…but again, I missed the part about the magic time stamp, the car trunk ballots that showed up five days after the election, the mislabeled vote tallies, the…well you get the picture, don’t you?
It was nice when we had a SoS we could have faith in, wasn’t it?
November 9th, 2008 at 3:30 PM
Fortunately for me, I still have one! I live in the real world and know that the SoS doesn’t have jurisdiction over local governance. Why don’t you join us!
Flash
November 9th, 2008 at 3:38 PM
“SoS doesn’t have jurisdiction over local governance”
Oh, well that’s a relief. ‘Cause we all know that all of the stinkin’ lying Democrats in the state work in Mark Ritchie’s office.
Nope, none in Iron Mountain…no Frankinphiles working for the city of Minneapolis.
*LMAO*
Keep digging. Flash. Keep digging
November 9th, 2008 at 3:50 PM
Funny all of these mysterious new votes come almost completely from heavily-DFL parts of the state.
November 9th, 2008 at 7:36 PM
Ritchie is boght and paid for by the Dem. mafia.
Again, most of you Dem posters are incapable of basic logic. You have chosen “the dark side” and there is no light in you.
November 9th, 2008 at 7:42 PM
Teach us to get our news from MikeDE
In both cases, Pine and St. Louis county, there was nor mystery votes or discovered ballots, they were human data entry errors or misunderstood vote counts. In either or both cases, they will be checked and rechecked and then verified via recount by local coounty workers.
http://www.twincities.com/politics/ci_10930700
“”A St. Louis County elections worker said the votes for Franken from a precinct in Mountain Iron were misunderstood when initially called in. In Pine County, Auditor Cathy Clemmer blamed the increase on a data entry error — Franken was reported to have received 29 votes from a precinct in Partridge Township, when he actually received 129 votes. “”
Mike, you really need to quit making stuff up and start showing a little respect to your fellow hard working Republican Poll workers. If there are errors being made, they are just as responsible as any Democrat. They work as a team, unless you want to admit you are totally ignorant of the process. But that, I highly doubt!
Flash
November 9th, 2008 at 8:16 PM
Oh Lookey, Coleman’s attorney understands nothing was wrong or unfair.
http://www.twincities.com/ci_10936725
Coleman attorney Fritz Knaak said, based on a Saturday hearing, he was assured by the Minneapolis city attorney’s office that those ballots should be included in the count. Knaak said it is not the campaign’s intention to appeal the judge’s decision.
. . .
“We did what we had to do,” Knaak said Saturday. “There was a real concern that what was going on here was wrong and unfair.”
Knaak said he feels assured that what was going on with the 32 ballots was neither wrong nor unfair.
= = = =
Nice to know at least someone in the Coleman Camp respect the process. More Proof that MikeDE and others withing the Coleman campaign are doing nothing more than trying to distract from reality.
November 10th, 2008 at 9:14 AM
Has anyone interviewed the person who had the votes in the trunk?
It would be interesting to find out who was responsible for this.
November 10th, 2008 at 9:16 AM
“Mike, you really need to quit making stuff up and start showing a little respect to your fellow hard working Republican Poll workers. If there are errors being made, they are just as responsible as any Democrat.”
I think we underestimate just how hard GOP election judges work in this country to try and hold off the dirty tactics that the party of Scrubs has mastered.
Maybe it’s time we start training our people in counter tactics so that our candidates have a fighting chance of taking the seats they get elected to.
Can’t wait to see how many more Frankenballots were found in laundry baskets and junk drawers over the weekend.
November 10th, 2008 at 5:24 PM
Flash:
I can read fine: that particular comment was not intended for you.
Do you count yourself among “Democrat partisans” now. *shrug*
My comment to you focused on your hyperventilating on how “shameless” and “disgusting” this is.
I could not agree more about the process, and the law, being followed.
November 18th, 2008 at 3:38 PM
Please stop suggesting that there is fraud involved in Minnesotas Senate Election between Senator Coleman and Al Frankin. Minnesota should be the nations model for election integrity.
And please don’t suggest that 100 ballots for Al Frankin were mysteriously found.
The simple fact is the ballots with totals were dropped off to the county auditor. At 5 a.m. on Nov. 5, after working all day and night and into the morning, one employee in a report to the secretary of state gave a total of “29″ votes to Al Franken in Partridge Township when it should have been “129.” The original ballot tabulation had a 129. This mistake was discovered by our local canvassing board. In short, we had a typo, not a left-wing conspiracy in Pine County to give more votes to Franken.
December 19th, 2008 at 1:19 AM
[...] Truly wonderful, the concern Ryan “Mini-Mike” Flynn shows for waiting until all the votes are in before anyone declares victory. It would be truly more wonderful if he and his master hadn’t spent the past month declaring Coleman the winner. [...]
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