Secrets of the City

Ramsey County, as a whole, is much more “blue” than “red.” I would think this news might favor Franken more than Coleman. Coleman is not a “favorite son.”

Addendum:

Presidential election result by county (MN) via NYT

Per the article:
Election-night returns indicate that precinct gave Franken 45 percent of its vote, compared to Norm Coleman’s 39 percent and Dean Barkley’s 14 percent.

Hooray! Then we can expect a conservative freakout. Maybe I’ll peer into the black hole of scorn and talking points that is local political blogging and see what sort of Rumplestiltskin-like frenzied dances have started.

Max you must’ve been thinking Washington County, not Ramsey, as being more Coleman-esque.

reading further, this happened in Maplewood, our foremost local bastion of absolutely insane political action.

that link is to the very last feature-length piece I can remember reading in City Pages…last March.  Sounds about right.

Yeah, Ramsey’s one of the bluest counties in the state. Even bluer than our precious Hennepin County.

Ramsey’s really just bluer than Hennepin because it’s smaller – fewer suburbs to water down the uber-liberal St. Paul vote. Hennepin has places like Eden Prairie, home of Erik Paulsen.

Franken’s net gain was 37 votes.

Reports are now that there are 31 more ballots than people that actually signed in at the precinct. Of course that must just be “Conservative freakout”.

this didn’t happen in St. Paul, though, it happened in Maplewood. How did the rest of Maplewood vote?

c’mon, people, start extrapolating….cue Nate Silver analysis in 3…2…1

Link, Rules?

And every precinct would have more ballots than people who signed in due to absentee ballots. Also, same day registrants don’t sign in, they register. Either or both could be a simple explanation.

Rules are Rules is dealing in half-truths, or perhaps should try Reading for Comprehension for Dummies…

 Star Tribune:

Once those were counted, election officials found that there appeared to be 31 more ballots cast than the number of voters who signed in or voted by absentee ballot at Maplewood’s Sixth Precinct, at the Hazelwood Fire Station. Shortly after, they said the explanation was that registration cards accompanying absentee ballots hadn’t been recorded, as they should have been; when they were recorded, the number of voters and ballots matched.

Well, I don’t know if I would qualify that as being a specifically conservative freakout, but it doesn have a quality of both the freak and the out to it.

conservative freakout.

F u g_rote. The original Star Tribune article said, “They also said there were 31 more ballots than the number of voters who signed in at Maplewood’s Sixth Precinct at the Hazelwood Fire Station. “We’re looking into that right now because there should not be more ballots than voters,” said Joe Mansky, Ramsey County’s elections manager. He said the number of voters who were registered and signed in, plus the number of same-day registrants and absentee voters should equal the number of ballots, but the 31 extra ballots remain under investigation.”

Luckily I have it up still in my other browser window so can send you a screenshot for dummies if you’d like.

Well, Rules, the original article might have been updated later with more current, more accurate information … just like the recount itself? If you don’t look for “fresh” news, you wind up with stale, greasy paper/pixels.

Yes I get that Noodle. I just didn’t like grote’s assumption that I either can’t read or deal in half truths. When I posted it was the most ‘fresh’ news that could be found.

“I just didn’t like grote’s assumption that I either can’t read or deal in half truths.”

Welcome to MNSpeak…

Well, I guess we can always assume the explanation is that lying election officials are in the pocket of the Obama/ACORN liberal gay secret muslin cabal.

That’s a given.

What do we want? PATIENCE
When do we want it? NOW

rules, you jumped over the “We’re looking into the issue” right to the conservative freak out.

kurtis, you left out the communists from the cabal. They’re the lynch pin.

F U Grote is not nearly as funny as Deb Rybak’s “bite me, Grote.”

also…i refuse to be told to fuck myself by some anonymous half-truthist.

Yeah, I was wondering how long before all the anonymous tough guys started coming out of the woodwork…

Why does muslin always get blamed, kurtis?

yeah…what about linen’s role in this whole mess. and seersucker isn’t blame-free either.

I blame polyester.

You and your polyster truthing.

“kurtis, you left out the communists from the cabal.”

Kurtis knows what he’s doing. He wouldn’t engage in an incomplete liberal freakout. He’s right down to the fabric selection.

Re: rules are rules and the “fresh” news

“Fresh” like the Prince of Bel Air?

I think it’s perfectly legit to freak out when 171 ballots suddenly show up a month after the election.

Elections are put on by people. Thus, mistakes will happen. This was an honest mistake — that anyone in the election judge business could make. It isn’t freak-out-worthy. When the robots take over in the next robocalypse and this type of thing happens, then watch out!

I think it’s perfectly legit to freak out when 171 ballots suddenly show up a month after the election.

Well, I’d rather they have been counted in the first place, but unless there is some evidence that these are somehow fraudulent — and there isn’t — this is just the recount being the recount. Would you prefer legitimate votes not be counted at all?

One thing we are learning from the recount is that there is some sloppy work by a few poll workers and election officials — but no sign of widescale problems with the machines we use to count our votes.

I am still concerned by the large number of absentee ballots that were rejected — that’s a issue that needs further investigation and solution.

In the end, no matter who wins, the next election should run smoother and better, if we act on the information the recount provides us.

Given all the voter suppression tactics the GOP likes to employ, I’d guess that kevin’s answer would be yes, max.

kevin, it might be ok to freak out if these relocated ballots screwed up the numbers, but when they simply make the vote totals agree with the number of voters, it would be pretty outrageous to leave them out.

And bob is right. The legislature needs to look a this stuff and address it. 95% of the time, it probably won’t matter because the margins will be too large, but when it does matter, the current procedures need to be improved.

“and bob is right…”

Let me savor those words. I soo rarely hear them.