Challenged Ballots in the Minnesota Governor’s Race — Duluth Edition

Now that the challenged ballots from St. Louis County are available online, here’s a look at the nine from Duluth.

The first one is from precinct 3 (Lakeside) and the next two are from precinct 7 (Hunters Park).

In the next set, the first is from precinct 11 (Kenwood) and the next two are from precinct 19 (Downtown).

In the last set, the first is from precinct 24 (Duluth Heights), the second is from precinct 27 (Piedmont Heights) and the third is from precinct 34 (West Duluth).

Someone explain why this is so fun.

14 Comments

Bret

about 13 years ago

Don't these people realize that a machine reads these ballots and the machine can't figure out what crossing out one filled in oval means?  They do feed their ballots into that very machine, right?  Ugh.  Next time, ask for a new ballot if you screw up the first one.  It will save all of us a lot of time and frustration.

Paul Lundgren

about 13 years ago

By the way, the opinion just came out explaining the Minnesota Supreme Court's ruling that rejected Tom Emmer's effort to force precincts to match the number of votes to signatures on polling rosters.

Read all 18 scintillating pages.

Piglet

about 13 years ago

Apparenty these people never took a test in school. I thought we all figured out how to 1) read and 2) fill in the circle accordingly. Maybe it's the pens vs. a no. 2 pencil that threw them off?

Gary

about 13 years ago

This could all be alleviated if they made a voting program for ipads and handed you one to vote on.  Touch, touch, submit.  Your vote was just counted.  Turn it in, sanitize and hand to the next voter. The only other possible explanation is that there are a lot of people with undiagnosed lazy eyes and they keep missing the bubble...

Claire

about 13 years ago

I really, really hope Emmer accepts the inevitable and does not drag this on. Dayton won, fair and square.

edgeways

about 13 years ago

TBH I don't think it really is a problem at all. So, in St. Louis county there are a total of twenty some contested ballots, out of how many ballots cast? Most of contested ballots, honestly, shouldn't really be contested given the "clear intent" guidelines. What problems there are can also be easily resolved by lowering the threshold for an automatic recount. Those optical machines are some of the best, robust and accurate voting machines out there. Better, more secure than Diabold, better than punch cards, faster than hand count and they give a paper trail.

Sam

about 13 years ago

There is probably a lot of pressure on Emmer now from the GOP to extend the legal battle as long as possible.

Lojasmo

about 13 years ago

Threshold should be .2%

Just terrible.  Time for Emmer to concede ... but he won't.

Claire

about 13 years ago

We've got to turn the screws then -- letters-to-the-editor, emails to Emmer's people. We cannot let the Republians hold us hostage to their grandiose ambitions.

Beverly

about 13 years ago

Paul, I think this is fun because it makes me feel so capable and smart. I filled in my ovals correctly, yeah for me!

admackbar

about 13 years ago

"Grandiose ambitions?" Sounds like some grandiose hyperbole.

Timk

about 13 years ago

The AP through the Strib says Emmer will probably concede Wednesday. There have been rumors that state Repubs will still try to litigate this to keep Pawlenty in past January 3 in an attempt to run some legislation through unimpeded -- Republicans will control both houses after the 3rd and wouldn't have to worry about mounting sufficient votes to overcome a Dayton veto.

Claire

about 13 years ago

TimK, that's why we have to turn up the heat on the Republicans. It isn't even close, it's 9,000 votes for god's sakes. Lojasmo is right, maybe the state should raise the threshold -- as Minny becomes more politically "diverse," automatic recounts are going to happen again and again if the threshold is only 1% of votes cast. It made sense in the Franken/Coleman race, made sense in the Ford/Mitchell race, makes no sense here.

Paul Lundgren

about 13 years ago

You can turn down the heat now.

From Emmer's concession speech:

Yes, the integrity of our elections is of supreme importance to the health of a representative republic. The citizens must have confidence in the election system and the outcome, whether they are pleased with the outcome or not. At the same time, it is imperative that we, and this from Jacquie [Emmer's wife] and I, allow the next Legislature and the next governor to move ahead with the people's business -- the business of governing this state. The Supreme Court has ruled that local election officials may count names on voting rosters or receipts counting ballots against voters in each precinct. The court, however, left open the issue of reconciliation, acknowledging that that process was not performed in every precinct. You'll find it if you look at the opinion at the footnote of page six; it was in a footnote. Arguably, this leaves the door open for a lawsuit contesting the election. Some have suggested that I should consider contesting the election if any good faith basis exists, because Minnesota might then have a Republican governor and a Republican Legislature until the contest is resolved. I disagree. We must address the questions raised by recent elections in this state, but I do not believe a delay in seating the next governor will help to unite us or move our state forward. While we should not be surprised if there are citizens who might still pursue claims to attempt to address the integrity of our election system, it will not be an election contest, and I will not be involved. Instead, I will devote my time to bring public awareness to these issues and to the need for election reform, including, but not necessarily limited to, requiring a photo I.D. for voting. In the meantime, Mark Dayton is going to be seated as the next governor of the state of Minnesota, and it is our job to make sure he can be the best governor he can possibly be. That doesn't mean agreeing with him all the time -- I suspect there may be a disagreement or two -- but it does mean giving him and his administration the respect it deserves. Mark Dayton was not elected to be governor of Minnesota Democrats. He was elected to be the governor of the state of Minnesota. We congratulate him and offer to help him in any way we can.

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