SECRETARY OF STATE MARK RITCHIE SAYS LARGEST MANUAL RECOUNT IN STATE HISTORY NEARS COMPLETION
Issues preliminary schedule for sorting of rejected absentee ballots
ST. PAUL, Minn.-Dec. 5, 2008―Secretary of State Mark Ritchie today said thanks to the commitment and efforts of local election officials across Minnesota, the largest manual recount in state history is nearly complete. Ritchie announced that counting concluded today with the exception of one precinct in the City of Minneapolis, which is currently searching for 133 missing ballots. To date, local election officials hand-counted and recorded 1,208,344 votes for Norm Coleman and 1,207,657 votes for Al Franken. Throughout the recount process the campaigns also registered thousands of ballot challenges-3,375 by Coleman and 3,280 by Franken.
"This was a monumental task of hand-counting over 2.9 million ballots in the U.S. Senate race in over 100 locations across the state," said Ritchie. "During this process, we put our election system under a microscope and have found ways to improve the process for the future. I applaud election officials for their professionalism displayed under such extraordinary circumstances, tight deadlines, and the scrutiny of political campaigns, their operatives, and the nation."
Ritchie went further by thanking the campaigns for taking steps to initially withdraw a number of challenged ballots. The state canvassing board on Nov. 26 sent a strong message to both campaigns to be prudent when making ballot challenges and to withdraw challenges without merit. Both campaigns have announced reductions-Franken withdrawing 633 challenges and Coleman withdrawing 650.
"I applaud both campaigns for beginning to withdraw some of their challenged ballots, and am pleased that they are planning to continue this process in earnest next week and substantially reduce these challenges before the state canvassing board convenes on Dec. 16," Ritchie said.
Ritchie also said the state canvassing board will meet on Dec. 12 to further discuss the issue of mistakenly rejected absentee ballots. A preliminary schedule for publicly sorting rejected absentee ballots is now available on the Secretary of State's Web site.
Ritchie announced that sorting of rejected absentee ballots will primarily begin on Monday, Dec. 8. The sorting is being conducted voluntarily by local election officials to provide the state canvassing board with an estimate of the number of absentee ballots that were mistakenly rejected because of an administrative error. The secretary of state's office has asked local election officials to finish by Dec. 18 and report their findings back to the office.
Issues preliminary schedule for sorting of rejected absentee ballots
ST. PAUL, Minn.-Dec. 5, 2008―Secretary of State Mark Ritchie today said thanks to the commitment and efforts of local election officials across Minnesota, the largest manual recount in state history is nearly complete. Ritchie announced that counting concluded today with the exception of one precinct in the City of Minneapolis, which is currently searching for 133 missing ballots. To date, local election officials hand-counted and recorded 1,208,344 votes for Norm Coleman and 1,207,657 votes for Al Franken. Throughout the recount process the campaigns also registered thousands of ballot challenges-3,375 by Coleman and 3,280 by Franken.
"This was a monumental task of hand-counting over 2.9 million ballots in the U.S. Senate race in over 100 locations across the state," said Ritchie. "During this process, we put our election system under a microscope and have found ways to improve the process for the future. I applaud election officials for their professionalism displayed under such extraordinary circumstances, tight deadlines, and the scrutiny of political campaigns, their operatives, and the nation."
Ritchie went further by thanking the campaigns for taking steps to initially withdraw a number of challenged ballots. The state canvassing board on Nov. 26 sent a strong message to both campaigns to be prudent when making ballot challenges and to withdraw challenges without merit. Both campaigns have announced reductions-Franken withdrawing 633 challenges and Coleman withdrawing 650.
"I applaud both campaigns for beginning to withdraw some of their challenged ballots, and am pleased that they are planning to continue this process in earnest next week and substantially reduce these challenges before the state canvassing board convenes on Dec. 16," Ritchie said.
Ritchie also said the state canvassing board will meet on Dec. 12 to further discuss the issue of mistakenly rejected absentee ballots. A preliminary schedule for publicly sorting rejected absentee ballots is now available on the Secretary of State's Web site.
Ritchie announced that sorting of rejected absentee ballots will primarily begin on Monday, Dec. 8. The sorting is being conducted voluntarily by local election officials to provide the state canvassing board with an estimate of the number of absentee ballots that were mistakenly rejected because of an administrative error. The secretary of state's office has asked local election officials to finish by Dec. 18 and report their findings back to the office.
