MSNBC.com: Al Franken declared winner in Minnesota Senate Race

[karmacop]

A cheap shot at Harris and a joke.

12 pages deep and people still aren't reading your posts, Karmacop. Must be frustrating. :doh:

Yeah. I'm getting tired of repeating myself, but then when I refer these people back to my previous posts, they complain about that too. I can't win. :whoknows:

[Rocky21]

A lot of posters in this forum predicted that the Dems would never get the filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Remember?

[Smoot Point Really]

A cheap shot at Harris and a joke.

Oh! You should've said that from the beginning... I've been taking cheap shots at Franken all thread.

[The Evil Genius]

Oh! You should've said that from the beginning... I've been taking cheap shots at Franken all thread.

To be honest, I thought it was implied - but I should have added the at the end to be clearer.

Harris does deserve all the cheap shots she gets - but much of it would be because of her ties and her role in the voter purges that didn't appear above board. That, and a myriad of other troubling issues that I am sure the more informed of us could tell you about.

[rdsknbill]

Oh! You should've said that from the beginning... I've been taking cheap shots at Franken all thread.

Like this one? Honestly. I don't know how anyone can take him seriously

[The Evil Genius]

rdsknbill,

They elected someone who wore a pink boa around his neck for 20+ years to be governor. Not that my current state has done any better in the governor choices since I moved here in 1999.

:doh:

[Ned Flanders]

Liberals....protesters, tree-huggers--are more emotional. More feminine in that regard.

I lol'd at that

[Mooka]

who is surprised that minnesotastan elected this "man"?

Not surprised at all. :hysterical:

[MurrayH81]

screw franken and his 'we are in the lead so lets not count any more ballots' crap. didnt know that absentee ballots could just be dismissed and not counted...

sure im biased, my cousin is/was an aide for coleman.

Regardless of the election, you may only count votes that were legally cast.

If an absentee ballot did not meet the standard to make it a legal vote, it was not counted.

I think all legal ballots have been counted, but am willing to hear more about the legal 'uncounted' ballots that you say are out there.

Thanks for being upfront about your bias, it is refreshing.

[rdsknbill]

rdsknbill,

They elected someone who wore a pink boa around his neck for 20+ years to be governor. Not that my current state has done any better in the governor choices since I moved here in 1999.

:doh:

Umm. Yea. Everyone laughed at Jesse. But being a Governor of what amounts to the "Tundra" of the US doesn't give you near the power of a US senator.

Do I think that Ventura lost his mind? absolutely.

Do I think Franken has always been nuts? SAME

[nonniey]

I've said a bunch of times, one of the best tragedies about the 2000 election is that a democrat designed that stupid butterfly ballot. Could you imagine if a Republican did?

If for no other reason than that though, the the intent of Floridians was denied. There were a lot of other major and minor things, but if the ballot was user friendly, it would have been President Gore. I remember reading a study where they gave out that ballot to several classes at Harvard to test it after the fact and even knowing in advance the problems associated with it 40% later claimed they voted for the wrong guy.

Crazy.

So this what you base the stolen election accusation on?

[Seabee1973]

I'm glad for Minnesota that this is finally resolved. Sheesh.

The Dems are still waaaaay behind on the stolen election scoreboard, but there are still a few innings left.

You do mean way ahead

[Seabee1973]

Bingo. All this "Harris was a hero" bull**** is just that, bull****. She stopped the recount long enough to seal the deal for her boss's brother. I will concede that even if there was a recount, Bush would've won, but just because they didn't need to cheat doesn't mean they didn't.

The issues between the Minnesota election and the 2000 Presidential election are similar, albeit with the tables turned. The main difference is that the recount was allowed to occur in this case, and it went in the Dems favor. So what I gather from all of this is that, in the Republican mindset, recounts are invalid if they're in the lead, but necessary if they're losing. They fought against the 2000 Florida recount, they fought against the first 2008 Minnesota recount, but once that one occurred and reversed Coleman's 200 vote lead, they were all for a recount. I assume they just want the votes counted and counted and counted until Coleman is in the lead.

Isnt that what happened with frankin? kept recounting till he got a lead? Used election day results over hand recounts.

[Larry]

Isnt that what happened with frankin? kept recounting till he got a lead? Used election day results over hand recounts.

No.

[IHOPSkins]

......I think this recount is the model for how all recounts should proceed.......

Yeah.....Right

Funny Business in Minnesota

one Canvassing Board member, State Supreme Court Justice G. Barry Anderson, has acknowledged that "very likely there was a double counting." Yet the board insists that it lacks the authority to question local officials and it is merely adding the inflated numbers to the totals...

....This helps explain why more than 25 precincts now have more ballots than voters who signed in to vote. By some estimates this double counting has yielded Mr. Franken an additional 80 to 100 votes.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123111967642552909.html

And again since WSJ opinions hold such little support with NYSlimes readers......

The Canvassing Board rejected the Coleman campaign's challenge of "double-counted" ballots, telling the campaign that it lacked the jurisdiction to make a decision. Coleman went to court over this issue and lost the first round. The state's highest court rejected the petition. A written decision from Associate Justice Alan C. Page said that the issue would need to be decided at a trial, where evidence could be presented:

Justice Page, Dec. 24, 2008:

Because the resolution of petitioner's claim that double-counting of votes will result from including unmatched original damaged ballots in the recount is better suited to an evidentiary hearing and fact-finding, the decision of the State Canvassing Board to reject challenges to unmatched original damaged ballots counted in the recount was not in error and the relief requested by petitioner is denied.

Were some votes actually counted twice? The Franken campaign filed a response that said that Coleman's camp provided no proof that this actually happened, and that there could be other explanations for discrepancies between the number of original and duplicate ballots and the Election Night vote total and recount totals. However, election officials have acknowledged problems in the recount process. The St. Paul Pioneer Press quoted Canvassing Board member Justice G. Barry Anderson, a Republican, saying: "I think it's a very good likelihood that there is double counting here." The Pioneer Press also quoted Minneapolis City Election Director Cindy Reichert, a Democrat, saying, "I agree that there is a big issue here."

http://www.factcheck.org/elections/mining_the_minnesota_recount.html

And

Monday, June 1, 2009, 9:00 a.m.

Courtroom 300, Minnesota Judicial Cente

............whether the trial court erred in declining to order inspection of election materials from precincts in which appellants allege double-counting of ballots may have occurred.......

http://www.courts.state.mn.us/Documents/0/Public/Calendars/June_2009_Summary.htm

So why DID the court decline to investigate this double counting claim.....considering a canvasing board member from one party and a city election director from another party said this was a BIG issue

I guess the legal argument outweighs the One person One vote thingy

[Burgold]

So this what you base the stolen election accusation on?

Amongst other things. Sure, why not.

[Larry]

I've said a bunch of times, one of the best tragedies about the 2000 election is that a democrat designed that stupid butterfly ballot. Could you imagine if a Republican did?

If for no other reason than that though, the the intent of Floridians was denied. There were a lot of other major and minor things, but if the ballot was user friendly, it would have been President Gore. I remember reading a study where they gave out that ballot to several classes at Harvard to test it after the fact and even knowing in advance the problems associated with it 40% later claimed they voted for the wrong guy.

Crazy.

So this what you base the stolen election accusation on?

While I do agree that the evidence is really conclusive that if it weren't for the famous butterfly ballot, Gore would have won Florida by a good margin, I don't think you can get from there to "the election was stolen".

Mainly because the word "stolen" requires the evil intent of a thief, and there's no evidence that there was any such intent in that case.

(I think there is lots of evidence of attempted election theft, in lots of other places. But I don't see any real proof that any of the actual nefarious plots actually succeeded.)

[Burgold]

As I said, there were lots of other things. There was that van that was carrying votes that disappeared for 24 hours and came back very, very strongly pro Bush. There were people illegally excluded from voting because they had a similar name to a felon. There were "faulty" machines in poorer areas and efforts to block certain groups to access for voting.

The butterfly is the easiest thing to point too, but it was hardly the only thing there. In the end, Bush won, but I think if all the votes had been counted as they had been intended... he would have lost by a good margin.

[IHOPSkins]

While I do agree that the evidence is really conclusive that if it weren't for the famous butterfly ballot, Gore would have won Florida by a good margin,...

.....Bush won, but I think if all the votes had been counted as they had been intended... he would have lost by a good margin.

Its funny how we ALWAYS forget about the REPUBLICAN VOTER SUPPRESSION in the FLORIDA PANHANDLE

With the Networks announcing the POSER Gore as the winner.......BEFORE THE POLLS CLOSED IN THE REPUBLICAN PANHANDLE......Republican votes were suppressed

But hey........Dan Rather Apologized.......didn't he?

[skinsfan44]

Lord help us. :doh:

We are slowly going down the crapper with people like Al Franken (Who is practically a Communist) being elected into office.

We are becoming a socialist country and I am seriously thinking of moving away.

Belize is looking better and better.

[The Evil Genius]

Its funny how we ALWAYS forget about the VOTER SUPPRESSION in the FLORIDA PANHANDLE

With the Networks annoucing the POSER Gore as the winner.......BEFORE THE POLLS CLOSED IN THE REPUBLICAN PANHANDLE......Republican votes were suppressed

But hey........Dan Rather Appologized.......didn't he?

No one kept those people from voting. Their names were not purged from the voting rolls nor where they robocalled and told to show up at a wrong district or wrong day (or worse).

Additionally, the Presidential vote isn't the most important vote (usually) someone casts on election day. Even if the networks had announced a winner - the votes for the 30 other elections in most major places still were going on.

[headexplode]

Lord help us. :doh:

We are slowly going down the crapper with people like Al Franken (Who is practically a Communist) being elected into office.

We are becoming a socialist country and I am seriously thinking of moving away.

Belize is looking better and better.

Sweet. You need help packing?

[IHOPSkins]

No one kept those people from voting.......

All five major networks (CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox and CNN) made the incorrect assumption that all of Florida's polls closed at 7:00 p.m. EST, which was not the case. All five of them reported this incorrect statement at the top of the 6:00-7:00 hour. Westernmost counties in Florida had polls open for another hour, until 8:00 p.m. EST, as they were part of the Central Time Zone. This region of the state traditionally voted mostly Republican. Because of the above mistaken assumption, some media outlets reported at 7:00 p.m. EST that all polls had closed in the state of Florida. Also, significantly, the Voter News Service called the state of Florida for Al Gore at 7:48 p.m. EST. A survey estimate by John McLaughlin & Associates put the number of voters who did not vote due to confusion as high as 15,000, which theoretically reduced Bush's margin of victory by an estimated 5,000 votes;[8] a study by John Lott found that Bush's margin of victory was reduced by 7,500 votes.[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_in_Florida,_2000#cite_note-Lott2001-8"][9][/url] This survey assumes that the turnout in the Panhandle counties would have equalled the statewide average of 68% if the media had not incorrectly reported the polls' closing time and if the state had not been called for Gore while the polls were still open. This opens the possibility that Bush would have won by a larger victory margin and controversy would have been avoided

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_in_Florida,_2000

[The Evil Genius]

So, 48 minutes after the polls closed in most of the state, and 12 minutes before it closed in the western panhandle, the Voter News Service called the state of Florida - and that dissuaded up to 15,000 from voting?

[JimboDaMan]

All five major networks (CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox and CNN) made the incorrect assumption that all of Florida's polls closed at 7:00 p.m. EST, which was not the case. All five of them reported this incorrect statement at the top of the 6:00-7:00 hour. Westernmost counties in Florida had polls open for another hour, until 8:00 p.m. EST, as they were part of the Central Time Zone. This region of the state traditionally voted mostly Republican. Because of the above mistaken assumption, some media outlets reported at 7:00 p.m. EST that all polls had closed in the state of Florida. Also, significantly, the Voter News Service called the state of Florida for Al Gore at 7:48 p.m. EST. A survey estimate by John McLaughlin & Associates put the number of voters who did not vote due to confusion as high as 15,000, which theoretically reduced Bush's margin of victory by an estimated 5,000 votes;[8] a study by John Lott found that Bush's margin of victory was reduced by 7,500 votes.[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_in_Florida,_2000#cite_note-Lott2001-8"][9][/url] This survey assumes that the turnout in the Panhandle counties would have equalled the statewide average of 68% if the media had not incorrectly reported the polls' closing time and if the state had not been called for Gore while the polls were still open. This opens the possibility that Bush would have won by a larger victory margin and controversy would have been avoided

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_in_Florida,_2000

You may now assume the throne as reigning Prince of Cherry-Picked Facts.