Franken Gets a Break in Minnesota Recount

Brad Haynes reports on the Senate race in Minnesota. In what may be the most important decision of the Minnesota vote recount, the state Canvassing Board has asked county election boards to count all wrongly rejected absentee ballots cast in the Senate race. The board’s decision today represents an important win for Democrat Al Franken , whose campaign has insisted that the roughly 12,000 rejected absentee ballots in the state should be sorted and those that were improperly rejected should be counted. State officials estimate that 600 to 1,600 absentee ballots were rejected without legal cause. Pre-election polling showed Franken with a decisive lead over Sen. Norm Coleman among voters who had already cast their ballots. Coleman led by 215 votes after initial canvassing of the 2.9 million ballots cast. He has roughly maintained that lead after the first phase of the recount, according to an interim media tally that disregards the 6,655 ballots challenged by the campaigns during the ... (link)