Minnesotans aren’t laughing at Franken (or Coleman)

The senate race between republican incumbent Norm Coleman and democrat challenger Al Franken, a former Saturday Night Live comedian, is in full automatic recount mode and it’s no laughing matter.

On November 5th, incumbent Norm Coleman led by a 725 vote margin; however as of Wednesday, November 12th, Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie gives Coleman a chopped-down 206 vote advantage – down from last Friday’s 221 margin, according to the newest unofficial figures.

Minnesota voters cast 2.9 million ballots giving Coleman a total of 1,211,562 votes and Franken fell less than 1% short of the incumbent with 1,211,356 votes consequentially triggering an automatic recount. All of Minnesota’s 87 counties are expected to have the ballots recounted by December 5th and both candidates have dispatched lawyers to oversee these recounts.

Allegations of voter fraud are rife and certainly plausible. As the recount unfolds, seemingly all of the luck has been on Franken’s side, with absentee ballots inexplicably appearing for the democrat. Hennepin County has been the exception, where the Franken team failed to have 461 absentee ballots counted because the signatures did not match or because the forms were incorrectly filled-out. But attorneys for the comedian have stated they plan to appeal.

But most suspicious is the statistical improbabilities that have unfolded. According to an Associated Press report, approximately 8,900 voters did not vote for president, which translates into an estimated 33,700 could become subject to a hand recount – making for a Florida 2000 déjà vu.

Coleman enjoyed a near constant five to seven point lead among likely voters since March, spiking in July to fifteen points and returning to two to three points above the margin-of-error just days prior to the election.

The latest development came Wednesday from St. Paul in which Secretary Ritchie, a Democrat, selected five-member a canvassing board to certify vote totals and likewise resolve divaricating over disputed ballots after the recount is completed by local officials.

The board is comprised of himself, State Supreme Court Justices Chief Justice Eric Magnuson and Justice G. Barry Anderson –– appointed by Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty –– and Ramsey County Chief Judge Kathleen Gearin, along with her her deputy, Edward Cleary, who was appointed in 2002 by Independent Governor Jesse Ventura.

The board’s political biases have been called into consideration by Coleman and Franken supporters alike. But Secretary Ritchie has assured both camps the board will be completely impartial, being described as “extraordinarily nonpartisan”.

Of course, that’s what was promised by officials in Florida eight years ago when boards were going so far as to determine the “intent” of anonomous voters by simply looking at improperly marked ballots.