Some national media types are trying to make it sound like the Coleman-Franken recount sound like Florida 2000. It’s time to deflate that myth. The minute that public hears that someone has to determine voter intent, they first flash back to Florida’s butterfly ballots, then think of the punch cards ballots.

While it’s natural to do that, that isn’t the case. In Florida 2000, people were debating voter intent based on the chad family (dimpled, pregnant or hanging.) Minnesota’s ballots are extremely straightforward. When determining voter intent, here’s some things to look for:

1) Did the voter fill in the oval?
2) Did the voter put a check mark inside the oval?
3) Did the voter put an X inside the oval?
4) Did the voter underline the candidate’s name?
5) Did the voter circle the candidate’s name?
6) Did the voter fill in more than one oval? If they did, then voter intent can’t be determined.

Minnesota election law stipulates that voter intent can only be determined by what’s marked on the ballot’s face. If people haven’t underlined or circled the candidate’s name, then they have to have either filled in the oval, put a check mark in the oval or put an X inside the oval. Those are extremely objective benchmarks. They aren’t subjective by any stretch of the imagination.

The election officials that I’ve worked with have been courteous and professional. The methods they use are consistent, logical and straightforward. Now that I’ve worked within the system, it’s my opinion that the administrative side is flawless.

I don’t want to paint the picture that everything is proceeding without incident. That isn’t accurate by any stretch of the imagination. From the outset, Franken employed a challenge strategy to make it look like he was gaining votes, thereby momentum. I wrote about that here. I’d bet that the vast majority of the ballots that they’ve challenged will wind up as Coleman votes. It’s still important that people volunteer for Team Coleman. That’s their check against Team Franken’s planned mischief.

It’s my opinion that the recount itself is a smokescreen for the fight. The fight won’t start until this reaches the courts.

Questioning the voter’s intent is aimed more at temporarily subtracting votes from Sen. Coleman’s totals. I’m betting that Team Franken hoped that they’d overtake Sen. Coleman’s totals so they could point to when they actually led. That hasn’t happened thus far. I doubt it ever will.

Each time a precinct’s worth of ballots is finished, the odds increase that Team Franken won’t get the results they want without a court fight.

That’s about the only thing the Coleman-Franken recount has in common with Florida 2000.

Technorati Tags: Recount, Norm Coleman, Al Franken, Florida Recount, Bush v. Gore, Voter Intent, Hanging Chads, Dimpled Chads, Election Laws, Lawsuits, Canvassing Boards, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

Victor Davis Hanson’s column at NRO is this morning’s great reading. In it, he discusses the competing theories about what happened to the GOP this election cycle. Here’s the first theory Dr. Hanson discusses:

It was a sort of fluke. Party faithful will shrug that almost everything conspired this year against the conservative brand: two wars; the sinking economy; eight years of presidential incumbency; a biased, unethical media; Bush’s low ratings; the absence of an incumbent president or VP candidate on the ticket; more exposed Republican congressional seats than Democratic ones; a charismatic path-breaking opposition candidate, etc. The stars were wrong, rather than the ideas.

So, the theory goes, just make McCain appear a little younger, Obama sound a little bit more like John Kerry, and take away the mid-September financial meltdown, and, presto!, a Republican would now be in the White House.

This thinking should be immediately dismissed. This thinking is status quo thinking, which is the most stagnant thinking within the GOP. It’s defeatist thinking and it shouldn’t be tolerated.

It’s foolishness from a strategic standpoint. It doesn’t address inspiring workers to do the mechanics of campaigning; it doesn’t address the advantages Obama has in terms of GOTV, fundraising and event planning. The GOP won’t be competitive nationwide until the GOP steps vigorously into the 21st Century. (continue reading post »)

Friday’s news that Team Franken had challenged 51 ballots in Meeker County to 7 challenges by the Coleman campaign highlights the high stakes PR game that Team Franken is playing with the recount.

I posted here that I was part of the Krueger-Fobbe recount of ballots in Morrison County. Team DFL challenged 1 ballot the entire time. We sorted through approximately 1,400 ballots that day. There were a number of ballots that were let through that required a closer look. Most of those ballots had an X in the oval, clearly signifying intent, then filled in afterwards.

It isn’t particularly shocking that Franken’s supporters are starting to worry: (continue reading post »)

I just got an update from a loyal LFR reader who’s working at a recount center in a Twin Cities suburb. This person just told me that Team Franken is challenging ballots that have write-in candidates written in other races. Team Franken is allegedly arguing that write-in candidates elsewhere calls into question the voter’s intent on the Senate race.

I just returned from the Stearns County recount. During the brief time I was there, things seemed pretty calm. One theory given for yesterday’s challenges from Team Franken was that it subtracts votes from Sen. Coleman’s totals, which make things look artificially better at the end of the day. Team Franken knows that the Canvassing Board will ultimately restore those votes for Sen. Coleman but it creates the appearance of momentum for Team Franken.

Michael says that Coleman Campaign Manager Cullen Sheehan is holding a news conference literally as we speak. When that finishes, I’ll update this post to include Mr. Sheehan’s statements and/or press release.

This is just Team Franken’s most recent attempt to steal this election.

Having participated in 2 separate recount sessions, I can confidently tell people that the administrative side of the recount was professional in both instances. The people who’ve sorted through and counted the ballots are polite and professional. The Franken volunteers that I’ve dealt with have been cordial, too.

The thing that I’ll be watching for when the recount is finished is how many votes the Canvassing Board will restore. I suspect that it’ll be substantial.

UPDATE: Here’s the Coleman campaign’s official statement on Team Franken’s challenge strategy:

New Franken Strategy to Sow Confusion over Recount Numbers Appears in Meeker County Challenges

Saint Paul—Coleman For Senate Campaign Manager Cullen Sheehan today brought attention to an apparent new Franken strategy to ramp up the number of frivolous challenges made by their campaign. Results from Meeker County yesterday show that the Franken campaign challenged 51 ballots, while the Coleman campaign challenged 7.

Stated Sheehan: “In the past 24 hours we’ve noticed a shift in the number of ballots Franken is challenging; in Meeker County alone Franken challenged 51 Coleman ballots and Coleman challenged 7 Franken ballots, a difference of 44.

“Now, 49 counties have completed their recounts and presuming most challenged ballots are tossed out, we will either gain votes or it will simply be a wash-unless, of course, these are the 49 counties the Franken Campaign has accused of failing to do their jobs.

“The Franken campaign understands that it’s in their interest to challenge more ballots.. So every ballot they challenge is one less vote for Coleman and vice versa.

“Put more directly, the Franken campaign understands that with the Eagle Machine precincts done and a lot of St. Louis, St. Paul and Minneapolis already counted, the only way they can continue to show that the number is dropping is to challenge more ballots frivolously- and Meeker County yesterday was a perfect example of that.

“We expect to see a massive effort in the days ahead by the Franken Campaign to up the ante of challenged ballots. While they will tell you out of one side of their mouth their concerns about frivolous ballots, out of the other side they will be saying ‘challenge’ to any and all Coleman ballots they believe they need to disrupt a true and accurate reporting of these numbers.”

This isn’t surprising. In fact, it’s quite predictable. It’s Team Franken doing whatever they think is necessary to win.

My guess is that Team Franken understands that they won’t make up the 215 votes they trailed Sen. Coleman by entering the recount. I’m betting that they’re now trying to argue that Harry Reid should seat him because the process was tainted or something like that.

The Canvassing Board should be deeply offensed by that tactic, if that’s how this plays out.

Technorati Tags: recount, Al Franken, Norm Coleman, Challenges, Canvassing Board, Election Officials, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

Tom Daschle will likely be confirmed to be Obama’s first HHS Secretary. That should be everyone’s worst nightmare. This statement should scare everyone:

Daschle, a close advisor to President-elect Barack Obama, is expected to be nominated for this Cabinet-level position if he passes the vetting process. His top priority as HHS secretary would be healthcare, one of Obama’s signature policy issues during the campaign.

“I hope to have the plan enacted by next year, and then it will take several years to implement,” said Daschle, as he waited to board a plane in Washington, DC bound for Obama’s hometown of Chicago.

When asked if the U.S., in this current economic climate, could afford to reform the healthcare system, Daschle said it is imperative. “We can’t afford not to do it,” he said. “If we do nothing, we’ll be paying twice as much on healthcare in 10 years as we do today.”

Government meddling in health care is a disaster waiting to happen. The dirty little secret that Democrats won’t talk about is that government mandates, both at the state and local level, are a primary reason why health insurance premiums skyrocketed. If the government wants to help out, the best thing they could do is reduce the number of mandates they impose on insurers. (In Minnesota, there are 63 government mandates on insurers.) Letting people choose the type of coverage they want would reduce health care and health insurance premium costs.

It would shrink the number of uninsured, too, which would reduce the amount of costshifting that’s part of the current system. The sooner we get costshifting under control, the sooner we get the health care industry under control without starving it as opposed to the bureaucratic model that dries up health care funding.

It’s wise to remember this: If you think health care is expensive now, wait until it’s free.

Technorati Tags: HHS, Health Care, Tom Daschle, Barack Obama, Mandates, Cost Shifting

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

I just got off the phone with a loyal reader of LFR just minutes ago. This loyal reader told me that Team Franken is objecting to all kinds of different things. Some of these things include ballots where the voter placed an X inside the oval instead of filling the oval in.

This is despicable. Team Franken is clearly ignoring this section of Minnesota state election statutes:

204C.22 DETERMINING VOTER’S INTENT.
Subdivision 1. Ballot valid if intent determinable. A ballot shall not be rejected for a technical error that does not make it impossible to determine the voter’s intent. In determining intent the principles contained in this section apply.
Subd. 2. From face of ballot only. Intent shall be ascertained only from the face of the ballot.
Subd. 3. Votes for too many candidates. If a voter places a mark (X) beside the names of more candidates for an office than are to be elected or nominated, the ballot is defective with respect only to that office. No vote shall be counted for any candidate for that office, but the rest of the ballot shall be counted if possible. At a primary, if a voter has not indicated a party preference and places a mark (X) beside the names of candidates of more than one party on the partisan ballot, the ballot is totally defective and no votes on it shall be counted. If a voter has indicated a party preference at a primary, only votes cast for candidates of that party shall be counted.

Here’s another relevant portion of Minnesota recount law: (continue reading post »)