Hennepin County declines Franken request to reconsider disqualified absentee ballots

[struggle4progress]

Source: Pioneer Press

By Jason Hoppin and Rachel E. Stassen-Berger
Article Launched: 11/10/2008 12:01:00 AM CST

... The Coleman campaign on Monday accused Franken of trying to "stuff the ballot box" after a Franken campaign lawyer said he's identified 461 absentee ballots that should have been counted but were rejected for reasons such as mismatched signatures ...

<Former U.S. Attorney David Lillehaug, who is spearheading the Franken campaign's recount efforts> made his request during a highly anticipated meeting of the Hennepin County Canvassing Board, one of the last in the state to finalize its election results. The request was rejected by the board, made up of county officials, court representatives and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak ...

Since Coleman declared himself the winner at Wednesday's news conference with a 725-vote lead, Franken has sliced more than 500 votes off that margin. He picked up 54 votes since that time in Hennepin County, while Coleman picked up 27, for a net gain for Franken of 27 votes.

That's a fraction of his statewide gain, but Franken bested Coleman in Hennepin County by nearly 100,000 votes, underscoring why the campaign wants those 461 rejected absentee votes counted ...

Read more: http://www.twincities.com/ci_10949531?source=most_emailed

[truthisfreedom]

1. He probably won't need those votes. There's more to be counted (and re-counted.)

I think Al will win.

[struggle4progress]

9. I hope you're right. Reason for interest in these Hennepin ballots is of course

that there Barkley:Coleman:Franken is running 13:36:50 so one might roughly expect these 461 ballots to split 60:167:231 -- so in reality they'd probably shave another 50 votes off Coleman's lead

http://electionresults.sos.state.mn.us/20081104/ElecRslts.asp?CtyCd=27&M=CTY&Races=0103&CtyNm=Hennepin&ZoneName=&DID=

[tinrobot]

10. We have to fight for every single vote...

Florida taught us that lesson.

[BootinUp]

2. I have recently changed my mind about absentee voting

this signature matching shit is ripe for abuse folks.

[Eric J in MN]

4. I agree. A clerk doesn't think your signature looks like the...

...signature on file, and so your ballot gets thrown out.

Not a good system.

[Bozita]

5. My signature on file is 37 years old.

I don't think I can write with a steady hand like I did in 1971.

[progressoid]

7. Exactly. I know mine has evolved in the last few decades.

A clerk at my bank actually called me on it a few months ago. My signature from 1985 is completely different from today.

[47of74]

15. So has mine...

I do mine the way that feels natural to me. I don't try to force it into what others want. I remember a 7th grade teacher who tried to force me into doing it a certain way. After a while I was like ah screw it and over the past few decades it has evolved considerably.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

18. I got the evil eye from a poll worker here in Chicago when I voted.

I misplaced my driver's license so I think that made them look at my signature a little harder - when they opened the big signature book, it was clear to even me that the signatures were different. I must have registered on a non caffeine day.

Luckily I thought ahead to bring several pieces of mail including a pay-stub otherwise I don't think I would have been able to cast a ballot.

I don't understand why the county can't call the voters in to produce ID. It seems like a simple way to not disenfranchise voters.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

23. Having to produce ID does end up disenfranchising people though

In every state I've lived in, ID's cost money.

It might not be much (here, in New York, a non-driving photo ID is only $10), but that's still essentially considered a poll tax.

I'd rather not have the elderly and infirm trying to decide if they can forgo a meal or two so that they're eligible to vote.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

24. I agree ... but .....

In the case of this Franken/Coleman election, the voter should at least be given the option to produce SOME sort of verification before their absentee vote is tossed in the garbage - a piece of mail? anything?.

[ComtesseDeSpair]

16. That's what happened to me in California.

The one time I did absentee voting, my ballot was rejected because I didn't sign my name in 2002 the same way I did in 1984. Gee, what a surprise. I learned my lesson though - no more absentee voting for me.

[Eric J in MN]

20. How did you find out that your ballot was rejected? NT

NT

[ComtesseDeSpair]

25. A few weeks after the election they sent me a note

[Ian David]

6. Why don't they just call the people who cast the vote to confirm it? n/t

[Eric J in MN]

8. They should. I don't know which states do that. NT

NT

[Hassin Bin Sober]

19. Can't a judge compel the county to count them?

I would think a judge could compel the county to count the ballots if the voter's ID can be confirmed by other means- regardless of any procedure on the books. Shouldn't voter intent ALWAYS triumph over petty bureaucratic rules or decisions by potentially biased election judges?

[Divernan]

21. In PA, we didn't compare signatures until after the polls closed.

Very little time to place a call - and that's really not credible evidence because if someone
was voting a senile or dead relative, they could lie to you over the phone.

I was Judge of Elections for the first time. I received a large sealed envelope with all the absentee ballots inside. We were instructed to put them aside and not count them until the polls had closed. That was because someone who had mailed in an absentee ballot in the belief they would be away from their district on election day, might HYPOTHETICALLY end up at home and therefore come in to vote. When that happens, we are instructed to write VOID across the sealed envelope and return it to the Board of Elections with the explanation that the voter cast their ballot in person. One person actually did that in my polling place.

So comes the end of a brutally long day (got up at 4 a.m to get to the polling place in time to open it up and set up the machines, etc., and it's now 8:30 p.m.) and we start comparing the signatures on the outside of the envelopes with the voter's registration cards. One clerk came up to me with a signature where only the first letter of the first name really matched. The rest of the signature on the envelope was that kind of scrawl developed by people who have to sign their names a lot. I OK'd counting the ballot, operating on judicial authority and Divernan's rule: when in doubt, count the ballot. I thought, someone went to the trouble to fill out two forms: the first form requests the ballot; the second is the ballot itself. The ballot would have been sent to the registered voter's home address. No one claiming to be the voter had turned up to vote in person that day. (We checked all the absentee ballot envelopes against the voting list at the end of the day.)

But on the whole the Pennsylvania system is antiquated, with no early voting allowed. I hope to see it changed by the next presidential election.

[JPZenger]

22. Easy way to allow early voting in PA.

There is an easy way to allow early voting in PA, without having to change the State Constitution or create a whole new system or spend much more money on poll workers. That would be to simply allow anyone to use an absentee ballot. That system is now in place in New Jersey.

[Parche]

13. i had mine sent back to me here in Oregon

I signed it the way i always do, and sent back the form

:grr: :hi:

[Eric J in MN]

14. Did you still get to vote? NT

NT

[Parche]

17. yes my vote counted

or it will when they recieve it again

:hi:

[But....]

3. Fight for every vote...

:mad:

[kirby]

11. Wasn't McCain sueing to count Military Absentee votes?

And now Coleman says, Fuck them!

[nichomachus]

12. Heck, I don't sign my name the same way twice in a row

Just lousy penmanship.

[goclark]

26. Can the person that voted absentee petition that

they want their vote reconsidered?

Have they been informed that it did not match?

[Eric J in MN]

28. I don't know if MN tells people when their absentee ballot...

...is rejected because an election official thinks the signatures don't match.

[LisaL]

27. Well maybe he needs to go to court over this.

461 -that's a lot of ballots when Franken is trailing by a little more than 200.