Coleman camp points to ballot inconsistencies

Campaign officials for U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman are raising concerns about what they say are inconsistencies in how the state Canvassing Board has treated ballots. In a blog post on the campaign's Web site, the campaign has posted two ballots. One post shows a ballot with the circle filled in and an X through it that was counted for Coleman's DFL opponent Al Franken. The second ballot shows a circle filled in with an X for Coleman that was not counted.

The blog states: "While we have great respect for the long, difficult work that has been done by the canvassing board throughout this process, we remain concerned about the hasty dismissal of our concerns today.  In an election that is this breathtakingly close, such inconsistencies matter to the overall credibility of the count.  As the ballots will show you, there have clearly been some inconsistencies in how these ballots were allocated."