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By JOEL STOTTRUP
Princeton Union-Eagle
The counties of Sherburne, Mille Lacs, Isanti and Benton each sent one or more previously rejected absentee ballots to the state auditor’s office for counting last week in the Coleman-Franken U.S. Senate race.
All the state’s 87 counties were ordered to review the absentee ballots that election judges had originally rejected when tallying the results of the race between Al Franken and incumbent Norm Coleman.
Representatives from the Coleman and Franken sides were allowed to weigh in on this latest review of votes at each of the counties.
Here are the results of the reviews of the four above counties of their originally rejected absentee ballots: Mille Lacs and Isanti counties each decided one of their previously rejected absentee ballots should be counted. Benton County did the same with eight, and Sherburne with 15.
Those decisions then went to the state canvassing board for certification of the recount in the Coleman-Franken contest. All of the counties had already gone through a recount of the regular ballots.
Franken has
tentative lead
Franken was certified as the winner on Monday by 225 votes over Coleman after the absentee-ballot review. But a legal challenge by Coleman or a state Supreme Court ruling calling for more rejected absentee ballots to be counted could prolong a final decision on who gets seated in the U.S. Senate.
The fraction of absentee ballots that the four mentioned counties sent to the state to be counted is small compared to the number of absentee ballots originally rejected.
Mille Lacs, for example had originally rejected 27 of its 1,031 absentee ballots, said County Auditor-Treasurer Phil Thompson. During this latest review, it was determined that one of the 27 previously rejected absentee ballots should be counted after all.
It was determined, Thompson explained, that the person who filled out the absentee ballot was a registered voter. It had been previously understood that the person was not registered.
Isanti County Auditor-Treasurer Terry Treichel reported that of the 53 originally rejected absentee ballots in that county, it has agreed to count one of those in the end. It had to do with which line the witness had signed.
Benton County Chief Deputy Auditor-Treasurer Rod Bunting said Benton sent 13 previously rejected absentee ballots to the state, with the intent that eight of those should be counted.
The 13 absentee ballots had been placed in category five as not meeting the criteria for properly rejected absentee ballots, Bunting said. But five of those 13 were rejected during review by representatives of the two candidates as suitable for counting, Bunting explained.
Sherburne County Elections Manager Steve Klepsa said that Sherburne sent 15 previously rejected absentee ballots to the state for counting. Sherburne received about 4,000 absentee ballots for the Nov. 4 election and originally rejected about 159, Klepsa said.
The biggest problem seen with absentee ballots is the voter not signing where signatures are needed, Bunting said in Benton County. “Without the signatures, we can’t tell if they voted or not.”
Klepsa was asked what he thinks of the ongoing contest to see whether Franken or Coleman will be one of Minnesota’s U.S. senators starting this year.
“We’ve just got to do what we’re told,” Klepsa said. “I can understand both sides. They both want to win.”
Bunting was asked what he thinks the final outcome might be. His response indicated the weariness many might be feeling over the drawn-out contest between Coleman and Franken.
“I have no idea,” Bunting said. “It depends on what day it is and if the sun is shining.”
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