January 3, 2009
I haven't been able to pull away from my computer. I've been mesmerized by the live feed of the Minnesota Senate race count at http://www.theuptake.org.
THE RESULTS ARE IN: AL FRANKEN +225 VOTES.
Of 952 ballots counted: Franken - 481, Coleman - 305, Barkley - 101, Aldrich - 7, Niemackl - 2, 'undervotes' 37, and 19 excluded votes due to identifying marks.
Mark Ritchie, Minnesota Secretary of State, stated his expectation that the Canvassing Board will declare the vote results from the November election on Monday. He is confident that this recount examination has been thorough and accurate and that there will be no contests from either side.
Unfortunately, Ritchie also said that 12,000 valid Minnesota votes were declared invalid, the majority of which are armed service folk stationed overseas. He said that fixing this issue will be his top priority moving forward.
As expected, the Coleman campaign and conservative pundits are blustering, bandying around the words "fraud" and "unfair." Says the Coleman camp: "We’ll take legal action to remedy Franken’s ‘artificial lead’ (story at http://tinyurl.com/7te6db)." Nonetheless, the word on the web is that Coleman is expected to concede.
Unfortunately, Franken cannot be sworn in on Tuesday with the rest of Congress. The Governor cannot certify the election until 7 days after the Canvassing Board declares the results. The Governor will only certify if no election contests are filed. If a contest is launched, then the Governor cannot certify the election until the contest is resolved. There is still speculation as to whether Franken will be provisionally seated. From ABCnews.com: "John Cornyn of Texas, the incoming chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told reporters Friday that Republicans would object to seating anyone before the already lengthy process is finished.
Regardless, congratulations are warranted to everyone involved for being thorough and transparent in this process. Theuptake.org deserves credit for the valuable service they've provided in allowing us to witness the process real-time. Please check out their site and donate whatever you can, so they can continue to do what they do.
Most importantly, CONGRATULATIONS TO AL FRANKEN!
ETA: Al Franken campaigned at Fergus Falls, in Otter Tail County, home of the World's Largest Otter. How can this OtterBlogger NOT throw in enthusiastic support?
Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshmattson/396026441/
Screen capture from http://www.teamfranken.com/OnTheTrail/
