CEIMN in the News

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.

by Chisun Lee, ProPublica

Unlike many states, Minnesota has a solid idea of how well its machines scan ballots because it randomly audits samples of votes. One test found only one error out of 12,000 ballots. Another turned up as many as 53 "discrepancies" -- between a machine's and a human's read -- out of 94,000.

That's impressively accurate for voting machines. But it's not precise enough to predict who'll triumph in the U.S. Senate race between Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken. They're currently separated by 206 votes out of 2.9 million cast.

By Marisa Helms, MinnPost.com

For the most part, Minnesota has a strong elections process, and the state even leads the nation in some areas, such as same-day registration and the use of paper ballots and automatic audits.

But, is there a better way to run Minnesota's elections?

Coverage by Twin Cities Public Television program Almanac here:
http://www.tpt.org/almanac/popup_player.php?node=2269&parent=2267

WCCO TV interview with CEIMN Director Mark Halvorson
http://www.wcco.com/video/?id=50349@wcco.dayport.com

WCCO-TV reported on the status of the US Senate election canvass and upcoming recount with comments from CEIMN's Executive Director Mark Halvorson.

Go to the WCCO video

A post election audit of five precincts was held at the Ramsey County Elections Bureau. CEIMN was at the scene and widely quoted in the video.

Go to the StarTribune video

News Release

Minneapolis, MN. Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota (CEIMN), a state-wide, nonpartisan organization that promotes verifiable and accurate elections, has recruited and trained over 180 volunteers to observe the hand-counting of the ballots for the post-election audit.

State-mandated audit a success, officials and advocates say

electionline Weekly - electionline.org

I. In Focus This Week, By Sean Greene

Minnesota's first-ever post-election review - a manual count of votes from randomly-selected precincts in the state - drew raves from two sides that do not always see eye-to-eye, election officials and advocacy groups.

"I believe that Minnesota has done a most remarkable job at making every vote count and count correctly," said Janet Straub, a Minnesota resident and observer of the post-election review.

Letter to the Editor, Mark Halvorson, Director, Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and the Star Tribune's Nov. 26 editorial both weighed in on critical issues posed by paperless electronic voting machines.

Krugman focused on Sarasota County, Florida, where 18,000 votes went unrecorded in the 13th Congressional District race.

In 2004, complaints about voting machines changing or losing votes were reported by voters across the country.