I urge everybody to look through their sock drawers for lost Franken ballots. They seem to be turning up everywhere.
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As end of recount looms, previously lost ballots from Maplewood help Franken
By Jason Hoppin, Rachel E. Stassen-Berger and MaryJo Webster
Pioneer Press
Updated: 12/03/2008 01:18:23 AM CST
If Democratic challenger Al Franken hopes to overtake Republican Sen. Norm Coleman in the 2008 Minnesota U.S. Senate race, he might need a little more of what happened Tuesday at Maplewood Fire Station No. 7.
That's where Maplewood's Precinct 6 voters cast their ballots Nov. 4. Four weeks later and in the midst of a tense statewide hand recount, Ramsey County elections officials found 171 uncounted ballots from that precinct, resulting in a net gain of 37 votes for Franken and bolstering his hopes of overtaking the incumbent.
Fritz Knaak, an attorney for Coleman, was unfazed by the latest discovery in a recount that, by and large, has gone smoothly.
"We are sort of past the point in this process where we get excited about stuff like that. We have been through a few of these," Knaak said.
But the Franken campaign was excited about the day's developments, including a letter from Secretary of State Mark Ritchie's office sent to local elections officials. The letter set the stage for closer scrutiny of rejected absentee ballots, which the campaign has been seeking for weeks.
The recount is scheduled to end Friday. At the end of Tuesday, Coleman led Franken by 303 votes, with almost 93 percent of the ballots counted.
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