FAQ on the Minnesota Recount

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/11/06/recount_faq/ [3]

FAQ on the Senate Recount

by Tom Scheck, Minnesota Public Radio, Tim Nelson, Minnesota Public Radio, Brian Bakst, Associated Press
November 6, 2008

Answers to some of your questions about the recount process in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race.

ELECTION DAY HAS COME AND GONE. WHY ARE THE VOTE TOTALS STILL CHANGING?

County election officials are double-checking their vote counts. If they discover an error, they report it to the Secretary of State's office.

After votes are cast in a particular precinct, an election official has to manually enter the total into the system and then compare it with the official receipt that comes out of the optical scan machines.

That process leaves room for human error -- for example, numbers are sometimes transposed, so instead of 84, a total would be reported as 48.

WHEN DOES THE COUNTING FINALLY END?

Each county in Minnesota has a canvassing board, which certifies the election results in that county. The deadline for the counties to certify the numbers was Monday, Nov. 10.

The counties are required to submit their election reports to the Secretary of State by Friday, Nov. 14.

WHEN DOES THE STATE GET INVOLVED?

The State Canvassing Board meets on Tuesday, Nov. 18 to certify the results of the election. At that point the board will order a recount in the Senate race, which is required by state law because of the slim margin. All other races, where the outcome is certain, will be certified.

WHO SITS ON THE STATE CANVASSING BOARD?

The Canvassing Board has five members -- the Secretary of State, two Minnesota Supreme Court justices, and two other judges named by the Secretary of State. None of the judges who serve on the board can be up for election on the ballot they are reviewing.

Secretary of State Mark Ritchie on Wednesday named Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric Magnuson and Justice G. Barry Anderson to the board, along with Ramsey County Chief Judge Kathleen Gearin and Judge Edward Cleary.

HOW WILL THE RECOUNT WORK?

Every single vote cast for the U.S. Senate candidates will be recounted by hand.

The official recount will be conducted in approximately 110 locations throughout the state, generally in every county courthouse and in the city halls of major cities. In some locations more than one recount "station" will be used depending on the size of the jurisdiction.

All the ballots are currently being stored in secure rooms at county courthouses and elections offices around the state.

The people doing the recounting will be county election officials and election judges. Teams of recounters will examine each ballot and record the vote.

As many as four, perhaps even more, people will be present as each ballot is recounted -- the election judge doing the recounting, representatives from each candidate's campaign, and any other interested parties. The recounts and canvassing board meetings are all open to the public.

WHAT WILL THE RECOUNT OFFICIALS LOOK FOR?

The recounters will determine the intent of the voter when they encounter problem ballots.

Most voters fill in the circle next to the candidate they choose. But sometimes an individual will put a check mark or an X next to a name. Others will circle a name. Ballots marked in that way cannot be scanned by the voting machines, so they wouldn't have been counted the first time around.

If a voter's intentions aren't clear by looking at a ballot, or if there is any objection to the decision being made by the election official by either one or both of the candidates' representatives, the ballots in dispute become "challenged" ballots that will go to the State Canvassing Board for review.

HOW LONG WILL THIS PROCESS TAKE?

Local election officials have until Dec. 5 to complete their portion of the recount, and to forward their results and any challenged ballots to the Secretary of State.

The Secretary of State will put together a final summary of the results and present it to the State Canvassing Board. The board will meet in St. Paul on Dec. 16 and rule on each disputed ballot. At the end of this process, the Canvassing Board will certify the results of the election and declare a winner.

The board hopes to complete its work by Dec. 19.

HOW MUCH WILL THIS COST?

Ritchie says the cost of a recount is about 3 cents per ballot. Since there are nearly 3 million ballots to count, the total will be about $90,000. It will be paid by taxpayers.

COULD THIS END UP BEING TAKEN TO COURT?

It's quite likely that the outcome could be decided in a courtroom instead of an election office.

Either candidate -- or any eligible voter -- can head to court to challenge the way the election was conducted or the votes were tallied. The challenge must be filed within a week of the post-recount canvass.

The two sides will likely wait until the State Canvassing Board certifies the results after the recount, before one of them files a civil action in Ramsey County District Court.

HOW WOULD THE CASE PROCEED?

If a case is filed, state law requires that it go to trial in just 20 days. In that time, a judge would appoint dozens, or even hundreds, of three-person teams of ballot inspectors, all over the state, to sort through the votes.

Each campaign would name one person to each team, and both parties would have to agree on a third neutral person for each team. The teams will put aside the obvious votes and flag disputed ballots for review by the court.

By law, the judge in the case would make a decision on each disputed ballot. But since nearly all judges are political appointees, the two sides might ask for a panel of three judges to decide the case.

If one side or the other does not like the outcome, they could ask the state Court of Appeals to act.

WHY WOULD A CANDIDATE CHOOSE THIS PROCESS INSTEAD OF GOING WITH THE SECRETARY OF STATE'S RECOUNT?

Under the Secretary of State's recount, the candidates have very little control over the process.

Under the court's jurisdiction, the candidates, their attorneys and the political parties would become involved. Each party would choose representatives to review each ballot and will argue for or against its inclusion, depending on their viewpoint.

Under this scenario, the recount conducted by the Secretary of State is essentially rendered meaningless.

If the candidates go this route, the recount becomes much more expensive, but the parties involved would pay the cost -- not Minnesota's taxpayers.

Since the stakes in this race are very high and have national implications, there will probably be money, lawyers and political operatives from all over the country heading this way to become involved.

MN Recount Updates 12/12/08: Big Breaks for Franken

Source:
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/12/franken_gets_big... [4]

Franken Gets Big Win At Canvass Board

By Eric Kleefeld - December 12, 2008, 11:48AM

Al Franken's chances of winning the Minnesota recount may have just gone up astronomically.

The state canvassing board just voted unanimously that absentee ballots that were initially rejected because of clerical errors -- and the current estimate from the hearing is that there could be nearly 1,600 of them, based on some extrapolation -- should be counted, probably the single biggest issue that the Franken campaign has been hammering ever since this recount began, and which really seemed up in the air going into this hearing.

The board can't directly order the county officials to do the counting, only making a formal request to go back and count the votes and then submit amended totals. But many counties have already begun or finished the process of sorting the rejected absentees at the board's request, and board members did castigate any election officials who wouldn't do so, with some of them even leaving open the option of seeking a court order if necessary.

Because of all that, it seems very likely that the vast majority of these ballots will be counted before this is over -- and it could possibly seal the deal for Franken. Pre-election polling showed him winning the overall pool of absentee ballots by a solid margin, so it seems pretty reasonable to assume that the newly-counted votes will break for Al. If that proves to be correct -- and if Norm Coleman is unable to stop it through further litigation -- Franken will probably pull ahead of Coleman and win the election.

Late Update: Just to clarify, this was a separate question from the missing Minneapolis ballots, which they ruled on earlier and we posted on below. The board took on two crucial issues this morning, and on both of them ruled in favor of the Franken camp's position.

6-minute video by the Franken campaign on improperly rejected absentee ballots

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Source:
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/12/in_boost_to_fran... [5]

In Boost To Franken, Minnesota Restores Missing Ballots To The Count

By Eric Kleefeld - December 12, 2008, 11:13AM

Some good news for Al Franken: The state canvasing board just voted unanimously to compensate for the loss of those 133 missing ballots in Minneapolis by going back to the recorded Election Night vote totals for this precinct, sparing Al the loss of a net 46 votes.

This means Franken has survived a major threat, as his campaign's calculations of how the race would go ultimately depended on the ballots being found or compensated for.

The Coleman campaign had been arguing against this move, on the grounds that the state can't count ballots that no longer seem to exist -- they were believed to be in a ballot marked "1 of 5," but can no longer be found -- while the Franken camp said that to do otherwise would be to disenfranchise the 133 people who had the poor luck of having their ballots end up in a lost envelope.

The board, made up of a mixture of Republicans, Democrats and independents, has sided with Franken on this one.

More to come.

Late Update: To be clear, we're watching the hearing over here on a streaming video feed.

Late Late Update: State Atty. Gen. Lori Swanson (D) just gave her advisory opinion on another very big issue, whether absentee ballots that appear to have been improperly rejected should be put back in the count. Swanson told the board that they have the authority to request (but not order) that counties meet again to count those ballots. If the board sides with Swanson, this could be a huge boost to Franken, as he had a good-sized lead among the overall absentee ballots, and introducing new votes into the count would probably net him some more in the total.

Minnesota Voter Registration Information

Minnesota Voter Registration Database Report:
State Regulations and Procedures Implementing HAVA Voter Registration Requirements

Attached is the Minnesota Voter Registration Information as set forth in Making the List, Database Matching and Verification Processes for Voter Registration as published by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University on March 24, 2006. This document contains available information about voter regtistration current as of the date of publication.

Federal law now requires, as of January 1, 2006, that states create and maintain statewide databases to serve as the central source of voter registration information. Citizens’ ability to get on the rolls (and thus their ability to vote and have their votes counted) will now depend on the policies and procedures governing the use of these databases in the voter registration process. Evidence demonstrates that poor policy and procedure choices could result in the unwarranted disenfranchisement of millions of eligible citizens attempting to register to vote. The new statewide databases, and their role in the voter registration process, are poorly understood, but extremely consequential.

This report, issued just as the state databases begin to come online, presents the first comprehensive catalog of the widely varying state database practices governing how (and in some cases, whether) individuals seeking to register will be placed on the voter rolls.

The report covers the state’s voter registration process, from the application form up through Election Day - including the intake of registration forms, the manner in which information from the forms may be matched to other government lists, the consequences of the match process, and any opportunity to correct errors. Each variation at each step of the process has tangible consequences for voters seeking to register and vote in 2006 and beyond.

IMPORTANT: Because of the possibility that voter information may differ from database to database (abbreviations, street designations, etc.) or because of data entry errors, valid voter registration data may be rejected. Individual voters are urged to contact their county clerk or local election board to determine that they are properly registered. Many such election authorities maintain online services for this purpose, other will require a telephone call or perhaps a written inquiry to determine the voter's eligibility.

As an addendum to this state report, a fill-in form for voter registration is presented which can be completed, printed and sent to the appropriate registratrar of voters (generally the county Clerk or local election board). The proper form of submission and location is included on the registration form.