Digg - Minnesota Recount: Most Undervotes in Counties Won By Obama

127 Comments
Who Dugg It?

xnathanielx, on 11/08/2008, -13/+86Don't blame me, I voted for both Obama and Franken. Let' go Al Franken!
- smacksaw, on 11/09/2008, -25/+12I'm so sick of the "don't blame me" posts...Obama, Ron Paul, McCain, whatever. Enough already. It's like this pathetic and insidious form of gloating.
  
  Just take responsibility for the government you have whether it's the one you wanted or not and make it better. That's the problem with the USA these days. Everyone wants to shirk their responsibility. It's always the other guy's fault. As if you don't live in the same country and society as they do.
  
  People are to blame. But we must blame ourselves as well.
  - smotpoker, on 11/09/2008, -3/+17In other words: Even if you openly/actively oppose an action or entity, you should still be eager and willing to accept responsibility for the consequences of that [entity's] action?
    
    That is like saying you should share/take blame for a murder when you risked your life trying to stop the person who actually pulled the trigger.
    
    I agree that gloating is petty and often counter-productive but placing blame is not synonymous with gloating. Often it is simply intended as a reminder to avoid the mistake(s) you made previously if you seem likely to repeat it/them.
  - TheOther1, on 11/09/2008, -0/+6No. In other words, support the government we have, but continue to vote for the changes that will improve our country.
    
    Despite everything bad, we still have the best system in the world. Enough bickering and division of the people! This is how we got in this situation to start with.
    
    I will make a conscious effort to support our new president, but I will still vote for the people that I think will make the changes to move us in the direction I feel we should be headed.
  - djholybolt, on 11/09/2008, -2/+2I blame you, smacksaw for the Bush Presidency. Both times.. Now eat a dick.
    
    I'll never support a government who's views have strayed into an almost dictatorship-like status. Bush has said he would even be pleased turning this country into a dictatorship so long as he's leader.
  - TheOther1, on 11/10/2008, -2/+1@ djholybolt
    
    Sources for Bush comment?
  - djholybolt, on 11/11/2008, -1/+1Go look it up on youtube or something. I'm not your bitch.
    
    http://www.explosm.net/comics/1457/
- Trekhawk, on 11/09/2008, -21/+6Your fault on Obama will be coming shortly. Please be patient.
- BrandonEagan, on 11/09/2008, -0/+13I disagree with your "Let's go Franken" statement. I'd say "Let's go democracy!" That is, I want a fair recount where the real winner of the vote gets into office--even though that probably will be Coleman.
- Larsonal777, on 11/09/2008, -0/+5Well, I could accept having Obama as the president, as he seems to be a man of very good character... Al Franken is a slime ball... even democrats have a low opinion of him. Just because people voted Obama doesn't mean they would vote Al Franken.
qdkk, on 11/08/2008, -13/+43Those republicans and their shenanigans.
Actually, this is serious. How do we guarantee that our votes are not tampered.
- JimmySpaza, on 11/09/2008, -19/+10By not having corrupt Democrats in charge?
  
  Seriously, both Reps and Dems have been guilty of fraud in the past. Shall we dispense with the partisan b.s.?
  - Zap2, on 11/09/2008, -3/+11well I'm not not going to call of the republicans on crap, because the dems may have done it in the past.
    
    2 wrongs don't make a right!
  - walruspanzer, on 11/09/2008, -2/+4Past? Look who is the house speaker right now!
- indiancompanion, on 11/09/2008, -9/+4221 votes, that's tighter than a virgin
- BrandonEagan, on 11/09/2008, -2/+5What shenanigans? This article doesn't disclose any shenanigans. You don't need to worry about your vote being tampered with--there are plenty of safeguards in Minnesota, a clean state. And if you have some unjustified fear of Republicans, you should rest assured that most of those overseeing the recount are DFLers and that Franken and the DFL will have lawyers in every room to make sure everything is as pro-Franken as possible.
  - bjornski, on 11/09/2008, -1/+3Stuff like this.
    
    http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2008/11/somali_ ...
- lizardking7112, on 11/10/2008, -2/+2These right wing conspirators just counted Obama's votes but not Frankens? That makes a who lot of sense. Why not just throw out the Obama votes.
  It sounds more like the voters there couldn't stomach Franken any more than a Republican so they voted "None of the Above".
- crgnetworks, on 11/11/2008, -0/+1HAH! You don't.
elwior, on 11/09/2008, -8/+42 Al Franken will prevail in this, the "outstanding" votes in Alaska will turn up, and the convicted felon will go down.
All eyes will then turn to Georgia for a knockdown, drag out fight between Chambliss and Martin, with Senate seat #60 on the line, which is likely to be a nail biter.
- nosecohn, on 11/09/2008, -2/+12I'm curious about the financing rules. Does anyone know if Obama can donate his campaign surplus to the DNC, which they could then funnel to the runoff election in Georgia?
  - nosecohn, on 11/09/2008, -1/+20I answered my own question...
    
    According to a CNN.com article, "Candidates with leftover funds may... donate an unlimited amount to a national, state, or local political party committee; contribute money to other candidates, subject to allowable federal contribution limits."
    
    I just sent a note to the Obama campaign suggesting that they contribute to Jim Martin and the DNC so they can run ads prior to the Georgia runoff election.
  - mrsteveman1, on 11/09/2008, -3/+6They should send it to me, i can fix everything. I will...um....just send it to me :D
- Spektr4, on 11/09/2008, -0/+6We won't win a Georgia run-off. Denying Democrats a filibuster-proof majority will be a winning argument there.
- egbert, on 11/09/2008, -0/+4The "outstanding" votes in Alaska have not been lost. If you look at http://www.elections.alaska.gov/files/08GENR/remai ... you will see that about 63000 early and absentee votes have not been counted yet. That is about 22% of the votes have not been counted yet. If you also add in the questioned ballots it goes up to 26% of the votes have not been counted. The election is not official until these votes are counted and the secretary of state of Alaska has certified the election.
mooseontheloose, on 11/09/2008, -16/+9My god. What are the odds that the winning candidate with more votes would also have more miscast votes? THERE MUST BE FOUL PLAY INVOLVED!!
- kpberry, on 11/09/2008, -3/+20Its not foul play. It was just a bunch of new voters who only knew the name of the guy they wanted for president. In another state, I watched one girl turning in her paper ballot and saw that she only voted Obama and nobody else. Also, most people don't even know their senator's name anyway.
  - JimmySpaza, on 11/09/2008, -12/+4" I watched one girl turning in her paper ballot and saw that she only voted Obama and nobody else. Also, most people don't even know their senator's name anyway."
    
    Just the type of uneducated voter that gives our democracy a bad name. All she knows is that he's sooo cool.
  - Mejari, on 11/09/2008, -3/+10"Just the type of uneducated voter that gives our democracy a bad name. All she knows is that he's sooo cool."
    
    As opposed to all the religious wackos who voted for Bush cause "That man talks with Jebus"? Yup, they're the knowledgeable voters.
  - LBTS, on 11/09/2008, -1/+4@kpberry, no kidding, you looked over someone else's vote?
    
    In America we have a secret ballot. It's a sacred thing. What country were you voting in?
  - ichbeineinrcg, on 11/09/2008, -0/+5I don't think it's fair to call single-candidate voters uneducated; if you're not inspired by the other races, then I'd rather you didn't vote in them and leave it for those who do care.
- macweirdo42, on 11/09/2008, -1/+7No one's suggesting foul play, you creep - it's just that they were within a few hundred votes of each other, so we need to double check. What the *****'s wrong with that?
  - bduddy, on 11/09/2008, -2/+2Actually, knowing Digg, just about all of the commenters here will find some way to suggest foul play.
ScottMitchell, on 11/09/2008, -2/+32This reminds me somewhat of an election in San Diego in 2004. A popular city councilwoman, Donna Frye, ran for mayor as a write in candidate. And she actually won by a thin margin, but several of her votes were discredited because although the voter clearly wrote in her name in the appropriate space, they did not fill in the bubble that indicates that they are voting for the write-in candidate. Consequently, their ballots were not counted and Donna Frye did not win the election.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Frye
- melindag, on 11/09/2008, -18/+8How does this remind you of Donna Frye. The Obama nitwits in this case didn't vote for Franken...period. Should we infer their intent (they voted for Obama, they must have wanted to vote for Franken) based on your expectations of partisan unity?
  
  In the Frye case, they didn't fill in the bubble, hence the votes don't count. Those are the rules. Learn how to vote or stay at home. If they'd written in a Republican candidate and didn't fill in the bubble, you'd be railing against them counting the votes and you know it. The instructions are written in dozens of languages. I don't think that literacy is too high of a barrier for being able to vote in this country....
  - macweirdo42, on 11/09/2008, -4/+15What the heck's your problem? Why are you getting so bent out of shape over the suggestion that people may have simply filled out their ballots incorrectly, or that the machines did not scan them correctly? Are you just some sort of diehard Coleman fan who can't bear the thought that he might lose?
  - thesonofdarwin, on 11/09/2008, -1/+4My ballot's only instructions were how to seal the envelope and mail it back in. It also said use an X or a (check) to mark the bubble, but that's it. No "instructions," no different languages. Not that it wasn't common sense besides the bubble thing, which I would have filled in had it not specified. Don't assume it's the same everywhere.
- jnnycakes, on 11/09/2008, -1/+10Don't know why melindag is being dugg down. He's right. They left it blank. If they would have circled Franken's name or drawn a big arrow to it, the vount will be counted under the voter intent law. The fact is, though, that they have to make some sort of effort to point out the candidate they would like to vote for. You can't automatically infer from their presidential pick who there senate pick would have been.
  
  If they would have had a similar law in place in California, Frye would have gotten the write-in votes.
  - cquinnd, on 11/09/2008, -1/+6You just made the same point as melindag without having to call the people you are explaining it to nitwits.
    
    I agree though, I could have written in a candidate on my ballot in this last election and then still chosen to place my actual vote for someone else. Not placing a vote "abstaining" is just as valid a practice and is recognized as such.
  - LBTS, on 11/09/2008, -2/+6@jnnycakes, melindag is being dugg down for the lame attempt to equate a machine's malfunction in recording votes, to the voters who probably did place a vote for senator.
    
    melindag also placed blame on Obama voters, never realizing that this would mean that quite a few McCain supporters would have had to cast their votes for Franken (do the math), which would be really odd, to say the least.
    
    And jnnycakes, you're being presumptuous in assuming that the ballots were improperly marked next to Franken's name. They could just as easily be marked votes that the scanner didn't count next to Coleman's name.
    
    Lastly, no one was stupid enough to say diddly-squat about inferring that a vote cast for one office can be based on a vote cast for a separate office elsewhere on the same ballot. Oh wait, you did.
novenator, on 11/09/2008, -15/+27Minnesota is not Florida. Instead of a corrupt republican being in charge of the recount, there is a fair and rational democrat. The recount will proceed according to state law in an air of transparency. If the theme of this article is correct, that the optical scanning machines may have malfunctioned in these areas, a human scan of them could very well put Franken over the top, meaning the democrats would take back Paul Wellstone's old senate seat.
- smacksaw, on 11/09/2008, -12/+17Wrong. The moment you think partisanship of EITHER party has a place in counting votes is the time you should move to North Korea.
  - apastafarian, on 11/09/2008, -6/+7???
  - novenator, on 11/09/2008, -3/+4You misunderstood my point smacksaw. I was saying the recount in Florida in 2000 was seriously ***** up, clearly a push was on by Katherine Harris (a republican) NOT to count votes because it would have led to a Gore win.
    
    MN is a different land, where this type of ***** don't fly. The fact that the Sec. of State is a Democrat (a cool headed and rational one at that) only makes me more confident that the recount will not be corrupt.
  - randomface, on 11/09/2008, -0/+3You only trust your political party to trust the votes? How interesting...
- DangerCollie, on 11/09/2008, -4/+13This is a case where the provisional ballots will be significant as well. In a lopsided result, they don't need to be counted if the margin of victory is beyond the total number of provisional ballots.
  
  Under-votes, provisional ballots (and associated challenges) and absentee ballots will all have to be reviewed. It's going to take time, there will be a lot of lawyers involved for both sides.
  
  What's that say about the Republicans when an incumbent senator almost gets beat by a comedian? What a pathetic showing.
  
  With a Democrat in charge at least we won't have to worry about Florida 2000 and another Katherine Harris...may that harpy bitch burn in hell.
  - cramtod, on 11/09/2008, -2/+5"What's that say about the Republicans when an incumbent senator almost gets beat by a comedian? What a pathetic showing. "
    
    To be fair, most of Coleman's positions _are_ laughable.
- BrandonEagan, on 11/09/2008, -0/+11The article doesn't even support a malfunction theory. It sounds like everything was above board and correct--but that many voters were turned off by the senate race and registered their protest by voting for neither candidate. That's also the same reason many people voted third party.
  
  Minnesota has clean politics. There'll be a fair recount any any scanner malfunctions or number miscounts will be fixed.
  - kabifff, on 11/10/2008, -0/+1Agreed. I, too, am from Teh Eagan.
single287, on 11/09/2008, -26/+1
- doublefelix, on 11/09/2008, -0/+7What is the deal with this comment being the same as novenators' and that inurl stuff?
prakashthapa, on 11/09/2008, -18/+10I personally feel obama is the best and he can really make some positive changes on the economy and will definitively affect positively to other nations.
- Bigmodirty, on 11/09/2008, -3/+16You obviously read the article. Good job.
- JimmySpaza, on 11/09/2008, -15/+4B. Hussein got a good return on his propaganda investment dollars.
smacksaw, on 11/09/2008, -11/+12This is what is dangerous about these recounts. I have shades of 2000 reading this article. The moment you try to figure out voter intent you are on that slippery slope. Undervoting requires application of opinion in this case. This is unfair to both candidates and to democracy.
- niradg, on 11/09/2008, -1/+14This is why it requires people from both candidates to be present and agree when questionable ballots are counted by hand.
- ralph123, on 11/09/2008, -1/+3Why should making sure a Diebold machine (of all things) didn't make errors when scanning in ballots be unfair to democracy?
  - alphaterminus, on 11/09/2008, -1/+1Why is he getting dug down? Paper recounts are great. Splitting the ticket isn't a sign of voter fraud, it is an encouraging sign of someone with a brain actually not voting straight down party lines.
- bjornski, on 11/09/2008, -0/+3We used black ink markers on paper ballots. It was a "fill in the bubble" form, like school tests.
  
  Very easy to figure out voter intent.
  
  Gotta love paper ballots.
Bigmodirty, on 11/09/2008, -3/+10I doubt this will lead to any good news for Franken however. I guess I can only hope.
- geodebug, on 11/09/2008, -2/+2Historically recounts in MN favored DFL candidates (what I heard on the news - no reason to think it is false).
  
  With shrinking difference (Franken picked up 100 votes due to a clerical error) it is highly likely that he may overtake Coleman's count.
  
  I read an article where a prior recount shifted votes by over 2000.
seanv775, on 11/09/2008, -13/+24I cast my vote for Obama and Franken.
Count baby count!
- alphaterminus, on 11/09/2008, -1/+3I voted for Obama and against Tom Harken in Iowa. I certainly would have voted against that hateful pseudo-intellectual Al Franken.
- Larsonal777, on 11/09/2008, -1/+4Seriously... a vote for Franken cancels any "good" of a vote for Obama... Obama may stand for hope and change... but Franken is a douche bag. Seriously... he is like the anti Obama. I mean all you have to do is look at his whole campaign... I don't think I saw a single pro Franken ad (you know something you should do... Hi I'm Franken this is what I stand for) ... it was all just slander slander slander I have to try and distract everybody from my discusting character.
  - seanv775, on 11/09/2008, -2/+1You say that as if Coleman is any better.
verybudget, on 11/09/2008, -11/+4
- DangerCollie, on 11/09/2008, -3/+8Undervotes need to be considered...if you can determine the will of the voter. Just agree on how they're judged before the counting starts so everyone is using the same criteria. That was the disaster in Florida. Some counties were using one method, some were using a different one. That is unfair.
  
  That's not a slippery slope, that's the best you can do with an imperfect system.
  - melindag, on 11/09/2008, -4/+5There is no inferring the will of the voter. Either they voted correctly and it counts, or they didn't. Not filling in a bubble is a far cry from a hanging chad. Should we infer a vote for Franken because they voted for Obama? That's a bunch of partisan *****. I'm registered Republican and there have been plenty of cases that I didn't vote for a Republican candidate in one of the races; I either voted independant or democrat or I didn't vote at all for that race because I didn't feel I knew enough to make an informed decision.
neelsama, on 11/09/2008, -0/+5At worst it would be machine fault, having wrongly read the markings. But, yet i would be optimistic, as compared to having someone infiltrate through the system and tamper with the voting system.
- BrandonEagan, on 11/09/2008, -0/+2I don't think it's even a machine fault--I think people just decided to skip voting in the senate race because neither of the major party candidates were any good. There's nothing wrong with that--so it sounds like this is democracy in action.
rexcrouch, on 11/09/2008, -5/+10Here in Michigan I was disappointed with both the republican and democrat congressional choices and intentionally abstained from voting for either--however Obama did receive my vote. I don't think this is a story.
pennvneff, on 11/09/2008, -3/+33How the hell could people in Minnesota vote for Michele Bachmann? I just don't get it.
- DangerCollie, on 11/09/2008, -0/+9MN has Republican areas, just like TN, that went 60% for McCain, has Democratic areas. The former speaker of the state house in TN is a Democrat and the congressman in the same district is also a Democrat. Republicans are taking over the TN state house in Jan. but that's a recent development.
  
  Now you can bet MN will be redrawing some of those congressional districts, just like other states with new Democratic majorities and governors. Some of the recent statements from Backmann indicate she might have gotten the message. If Democrats would have a stronger candidate in that district, she would have lost.
  - Chode2235, on 11/12/2008, -0/+1Jim Kline too. Actually those districts are pretty 'consrevative'. The area south and directly north of the twin cities is republican land, and somewhat around Rochester too.
    
    Duluth, the rest of the 'range' and the metro are solid blue. To win in MN it really is about the winning that middle third of voters who go either way. Thats why we have had recent histories of third party winners (ventura) and spoilers (Barkley).
    
    You remember Mark Kennedy safely held Bachmann's seat before.
- BloodyMess, on 11/09/2008, -1/+9I voted her out with extreme prejudice, but I failed. Others I talked to that live in central MN were as confused as I was that she didn't lose in a landslide.
- jtmitl, on 11/09/2008, -1/+6I voted Tinklenberg, you can't blame me
- geodebug, on 11/09/2008, -2/+8I grew up around the Anoka, Coon Rapids (yes that is a real town), and Blaine in MN. That is about how far north of the cities you have to drive to get to the cusp of hicksville. Go one mile more north and the inevitable "right to life" and "meth will kill you" road signs start popping up.
  - aluminumpork, on 11/09/2008, -1/+2I somewhat resent that. I live in Northeast Minnesota and the areas of Duluth, Hermantown and Cloquet are extremely liberal. Almost a little too much for me.
  - geodebug, on 11/09/2008, -0/+1I'm sorry. I didn't mean to imply that things were super right wing everywhere in MN besides the cities, just that it doesn't take long to get to some of the reddest parts once you get out of the immediate metro area.
    
    Apology accepted? MN folk have to stick together after all. The rest of the country is crazy.
- novenator, on 11/09/2008, -0/+9As a former Minnesotan, I apologize to the rest of the nation that we did not manage to outs michelle bachman. She is an embarrassment.
- alphaterminus, on 11/09/2008, -5/+4I agree Bachman is a bitch. Al Franken, however, is every bit as much of a bitch.
GrungeRock, on 11/09/2008, -2/+2Nooooo! Not Minnesota!
- BrandonEagan, on 11/09/2008, -0/+1Not Minnesota what? The article doesn't suggest any fraud or irregularity. It just suggests that some people decided to vote for president but not for a senator. That's not surprising at all, especially given how unhappy Minnesotans were with the senate race and how engaging Obama's campaign was.
jpsoraire, on 11/09/2008, -11/+13Franken for Senator '08
mcm297, on 11/09/2008, -14/+4It's good to know that digg will be safe when the Fairness Doctrine is revived.
- JimmySpaza, on 11/09/2008, -9/+5Yeah, then again maybe they'll force Democrat-strong websites like Diggland to have more Republican say in articles.
  
  Affirmative action = Republicans get to digg and bury articles three times...Democrats? Maybe once.
  
  What's good for the goose...
  - Mejari, on 11/09/2008, -5/+6This is the same warped idea of "Fair and Balanced" that Fox has. There are more left-leaning people here, therefore for some reason the distribution of partisan articles should be 50/50? As they say, reality has a liberal bias, so by forcing "equality" you'd be skewing Digg away from reality. Digg does a pretty good job of representing it's users. If you want more right-leaning articles, go grab a bunch of your Republican friends and sign them up (on second thought, please don't).
  - vibrate, on 11/09/2008, -3/+5spaza, you are a ***** spastic
  - gnocchi1442, on 11/09/2008, -3/+5Jimmy, I honestly don't know how you do it. No matter how stupid you get, you continue to out-***** yourself on a daily basis. It really is a rare talent you have.
AndrewDB, on 11/09/2008, -11/+5Just give the office to Franken already.
- cquinnd, on 11/09/2008, -0/+4No, make sure that the winner has clearly earned the majority of votes in a way that should not be later contested and will be considered fair by both parties.
  
  We can hope that the outcome favors one candidate over the other.
- BevansDesign, on 11/09/2008, -1/+1No, give it to Barkley.
  
  Anyone? Anyone? Aww...
apastafarian, on 11/09/2008, -2/+13This is for a Senate seat that won't be filled till January, there's no need to rush to judgment. If the recount is done transparently and above board, we can wait for the results. I know the people of Minnesota are not happy with the cost of the recount, but consider it a incentive to fix the problem for the future.
- BrandonEagan, on 11/09/2008, -0/+4There's no problem to fix for the future though--everything is working just as it should. The people voted, their votes were counted, the count was close, and now we're doing a recount to make sure the machines got it right.
- rdoger6424, on 11/09/2008, -0/+1It's not a controversy-based recount, state law says that you have to do a recount if the margin is less than 0.5%. Which it is.
jemonk, on 11/09/2008, -1/+9We need a real comedian in the U.S. Senate!
- btc08, on 11/09/2008, -2/+5Even more reason not to elect Franken.
- rdoger6424, on 11/09/2008, -1/+4Ever since Pennsylvania voted Rick Santorum out, the Senate has been lacking in comedy.
- niradg, on 11/09/2008, -1/+2I guess with Larry Craig gone, another comedian is needed.
- Chode2235, on 11/12/2008, -0/+1As Franken said, "I'm the New York Jew who actually grew up in Minnesota."
Nothlit, on 11/09/2008, -4/+8This really doesn't surprise me. It seems completely plausible that many people went in to vote for Obama and either did not know or care about the other races on the ballot, so they left them blank.
scubajim, on 11/09/2008, -7/+7I doubt there were shenanigans. It is either an optical scan problem. More likely these are new voters who wanted to vote for Obama and didn't care about the Senate race. (as is their right to do so) But on Digg we convict before their is any evidence.(unless it would hurt a liberal agenda)
- alphaterminus, on 11/09/2008, -1/+2Dude, lots of us in the Midwest think Franken is a dick. I personally have family in Minnesota who split the ticket for Obama and against Franken.
BikerDude69, on 11/09/2008, -2/+9I see stupid people. They're everywhere. They don't even know they're stupid.
gridbread, on 11/09/2008, -2/+5Yeah, this really isn't a major victory for either side (In Minnesota), looks like victory is in the margin of error.
macweirdo42, on 11/09/2008, -0/+16Wow, some people seem extremely bitter about the recount. What the heck? It's just a recount people, calm the ***** down. What's wrong with saying "Well, the results were really close, we should double check"?
- Larsonal777, on 11/09/2008, -2/+2Because it costs the tax payers of Minnesota $90,000... We could do a lot of stuff with 90,000. If they recount this and he looses then I think he should have to pay for it... in the words of Al Franken "Its shameful" shameful that waste tax dollars on your own ambitions.
  - macweirdo42, on 11/09/2008, -1/+3The election was within a few hundred votes. Even if Franken still loses, I think it's well worth the effort to double check. I just don't get it - are we saying the democratic process isn't important?
  - Larsonal777, on 11/10/2008, -0/+1macweirdo... if the election was within a few hundred votes and thousands didn't even vote... then paying 90,000 to "double check" isn't going to show "what the populous wants" the democratic process has much bigger problems... problems that people don't vote... problems that people vote for the president and then just "fill in" the rest of the bubbles... problems where people are completely uneducated about who they are voting for but feel the need to vote for their party.
    
    But even if we don't consider THOSE errors in what the "populous really wants" we have to consider that this. If our voting system was off enough to come up with that many votes... and we are supposed to be one of the "clean states" then we have a problem.... why? Because if you take that percentage of error and put it to the presidential election then we have over 20,000 people that may not have had their vote counted correctly... which means there's a possible 40,000 vote swing.
    
    Thats a LOT of people... hundreds of votes is A LOT of people... but then again... it isn't anywhere near the amount of people who didn't vote... So is paying 90,000 worth it to see if there is a problem here? I'm not saying ignorance is bliss... Just that it isn't "mere" hundreds of votes... the system would have to have some pretty big flaws to miss by that much...
  - kareemachan, on 11/11/2008, -0/+1Which he? They both have ambitions, so why target Franken? Make them split it.
Scira, on 11/09/2008, -5/+4Gogo franken!
although i dont think he will win.
Karlitzor, on 11/09/2008, -14/+2Thanks a lot, ALCORN.
- cquinnd, on 11/09/2008, -0/+3If that was an attempt at sarcasm, then I apologize for the digg down.
ThisistheEdge, on 11/09/2008, -14/+7If Al Franken gets elected to the Senate, we should be able to kick Minnesota out of the Union. Of course this is a state that elected Jesse the Body......and he was kind of cool.
- tolbs, on 11/09/2008, -2/+4it just says a lot about Norm Coleman....he was second to Jesse as well..
Jareth86, on 11/09/2008, -5/+10Why is it that "voting irregularities" always seem to benefit the republican?
BrandonEagan, on 11/09/2008, -1/+7This is NOT a voting irregularity and is a nonissue. These "undervotes" are just people who voted for a presidential candidate but not a senate candidate. That is not surprising at all. Obama turned out a TON of people who were very interested in the presidential election but were less interested in the other races. And Obama also campaigned on a positive message of hope---in stark contrast to the negative, dirty campaigns run by both the major party senate candidates. It is thus no surprise that any voter--particularly Obama voters--might vote for president but not for the Senate.

Minnesota is a well-run state with clean elections. The article doesn't suggest even the slightest foul play. There'll be a fair recount and we'll see what happens in this very close, very important race.
- CARHINO, on 11/10/2008, -2/+1Not less interested, less informed, like the IMBICILE in front of me who called out on her cell phone to ask " is I's sposeta vote for anytin mo dan pessident?" Democracies fail when the underclass learns they can vote themselves the wealth of the producers.
Tweets, on 11/09/2008, -0/+4Dugg for the picture of the Beagle.
alphaterminus, on 11/09/2008, -4/+5I voted for Obama and personally think Al Franken is a pseudo-intellectual dick. He spews invective and hatred every bit as much as that dumb ass Sarah Palin and is the Democratic equivalent of her. I live in Iowa and have family members in MN who I personally know split the ticket. People in MN like Norm Coleman. And as for Franken drawing a map of America on a dry-erase board... my 9-year old daughter can do that, though it takes her about 10 minutes. I listened to his Air America show and he is really, really, dumb.
DanMcGuinness, on 11/09/2008, -6/+2Meh, I'm pretty ambivalent about the outcome of this senate election... I voted for Franken in spite of Norm Coleman, who I absolutely hate, but I don't particularly care for Franken either.
cloviejr, on 11/09/2008, -7/+3The Husseiniacs came for the rock star and ignored the backup dancers. No big surprise.
Ricemanstm, on 11/10/2008, -2/+3Al Franken is a joke, literally and figuratively. If Minnesota votes him into office, then they're right up there with PA as having the dumbest people in the country.
neelsama, on 11/12/2008, -0/+0Good point. In democracy we are free to decide to vote or not. The people must have their reasons and ideals they believe in.
buckbova1, on 11/27/2008, -0/+1Al Franken will lose . . . because he's not good enough, not smart enough and gosh darn it, people dislike him.
punditious1, on 12/04/2008, -0/+1A vote for Obama does not equal a vote for Franken. This is the dirtiest race of the election season, and it has gotten sleazier since the election than it was before. Franken needs to just man up and concede. Instead he will go fishing for votes until he has a lead. Shades of Washington state.
The idea that the so-called "undervote" happened in predominantly Democrat districts would lead a disinterested party to think that the people in those districts are not smart enough to run a voting machine.
"It is enough that the people know there was an election."--Josef Stalin
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Minnesota Recount: Most Undervotes in Counties Won By Obama

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Minnesota Recount: Most Undervotes in Counties Won By Obama

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