"Tense and tedious" recount meeting

Fellow Post-Bulletin reporter Matt Russell headed to the Olmsted County Government Center this afternoon and watched as campaign representatives for Democrat Al Franken and Republican Sen. Norm Coleman debated which absentee ballots were improperly rejected. Here is an excerpt from his story for tomorrow:

   With Franken’s statewide lead at 50 votes, election officials and campaign representatives held a tense and tedious two-hour meeting at the city-county Government Center to determine whether 66 rejected and unopened absentee ballots should be counted by the state’s canvassing board.

   A total of 13 ballots were rejected during the meeting, 11 by the Franken campaign and two by the Coleman campaign.
   As a result, 53 rejected ballots will be sent to the canvassing board for consideration next week, 49 from Olmsted County and four from Fillmore County. There had to be unanimous agreement between the campaigns and county election officials for each ballot to be forwarded to the state.

Russell also noticed a difference in how the campaigns handled the ballot situation.

 
 The Franken campaign was more aggressive in challenging ballots, asking for proof of registration and examining signatures to make sure they matched. The approach led to a few testy exchanges between the two sides.