CEIMN in the News

By BOB VON STERNBERG, Star Tribune

How could a trickle of challenged ballots in the U.S. Senate recount quickly turn into a torrent that has soared to nearly 4,800?

The experience of Sherburne Country is instructive.

During Wednesday's state Canvassing Board meeting, Lucy Botzek, the county's deputy administrator, startled participants and observers alike when she said the Norm Coleman and Al Franken campaigns had challenged 801 of about 30,000 ballots that had been retabulated in her county.

By KEVIN DUCHSCHERE, Star Tribune

Minnesota's U.S. Senate race took a dramatic turn Tuesday with a pair of developments involving absentee ballots: One county acted on its own initiative to count several ballots that it said were wrongly excluded, and two prominent county attorneys proposed a statewide process to reexamine rejected ballots.

The moves came on the eve of a state Canvassing Board meeting today at which the fate of such possibly decisive ballots may be determined.

By KEVIN DUCHSCHERE and LARRY OAKES, Star Tribune

Minnesota's U.S. Senate recount didn't take time off Saturday, as tabulators and observers turned out at a handful of centers around the state to whittle the stacks of ballots.

While the Franken and Coleman campaigns are planning to staff recount locations with attorneys and volunteers, three election-minded organizations said they will team up to enlist upward of 250 volunteers to monitor the recount. The group said it will be present, possibly at every recount location, to ensure election laws and recount procedures are followed.

“This is about protecting the integrity of the process,” said Mark Halvorson, director of Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota.