13 November 2008

Despite Big Obama Win in Minnesota, State’s Next Senator Unknown

State elections officials working on recount mandated by Minnesota law

Elections official Paul Tynjala stands in a courthouse attic in Duluth, Minnesota, where ballots await a recount behind locked doors.

By Kathryn McConnell
Staff Writer

Washington — Minnesota voters, as expected, decisively backed Democrat Barack Obama’s bid for the White House, but they still are waiting to learn who will be sworn in as their next senator in January 2009.

Obama received 54 percent of votes cast in Minnesota to Republican John McCain’s 44 percent.

But the big election story in Minnesota continues to be a Senate race that is one of the closest in the country. Republican Norm Coleman, the incumbent, and Democrat Al Franken, his main challenger, each received about 42 percent of the vote in the initial vote tally. Independence Party candidate Dean Barkley received the rest of the votes. (See “Minnesota Senator’s Vote on Rescue Bill Boosts Rival’s Campaign.”)

The margin of victory — or defeat — seems to be a few hundred votes or less, which is below the limit set by Minnesota law to trigger a mandatory recount. A statewide manual recount of all votes cast will begin November 19, and the results of that recount must be certified by a "canvassing board" newly appointed by Governor Tim Pawlenty, a Republican.

Heading the canvassing board is Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, a Democrat. He will be joined by the chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, appointed to the court by Pawlenty in June; an associate justice on the state's Supreme Court, appointed by a previous Republican governor; and the chief judge and an assistant chief judge of Ramsey County, the seat of the state's capital city, St. Paul.

By December 16, the board will begin to rule one by one on the votes being challenged by either the Franken or Coleman campaigns. Votes for other Senate candidates will not be included in the recount and votes where no voter intent regarding the Senate race can be determined will be set aside.

The recount will be conducted at 120 locations across the state by auditors, clerks, lawyers and volunteers, according to the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State. Both the Coleman and Franken campaigns will have lawyers at recount locations. The state's 87 counties are responsible for ensuring ballot security.

Local election officials will receive training on conducting a recount before the recount begins.

Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie outlines recount procedures during a November 5 news conference in St. Paul, Minnesota.

CHALLENGES TO SOME VOTES

As recounts are completed, results will be posted on a Web site being constructed by the Minnesota secretary of state's office. Counties are required to report their results by December 5.

What started as a 725-vote Coleman lead dwindled to 206 votes as some counties began their own recounts; 2.9 million votes were cast in the state, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported November 13.

Franken challenged 461 absentee votes but the challenge was rejected by Ritchie. On November 13, the Democratic candidate filed suit in Ramsey County District Court for access to data on voters who had their absentee ballots rejected.

Those votes were from the state's largest county, Hennepin, home of Minneapolis and some of the city's suburbs. The county did approve 84,002 absentee votes.

WALZ WINS IN MINNESOTA'S 1ST

In Minnesota's 1st Congressional District, first-term incumbent Tim Walz, a Democrat, won by a large margin over his main challenger, Republican Brian Davis, a physician who ran a tough campaign.

Walz, who won 63 percent to Davis' 33 percent, was one of the five Democrat members of Minnesota's delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives to decisively win re-election. (See “Candidates Bring Differing Views of Future to Minnesota Campaign.”)

One of them is the only Muslim member of Congress. Keith Ellison, elected to his first term in 2006, who represents the Minnesota 5th Congressional District, comprised of north Minneapolis and the northern metropolitan area. Ellison received nearly 71 percent of the vote in his re-election bid. (See “Congressman Takes Oath of Office on Thomas Jefferson’s Quran.”)

In a ballot initiative that reflected Minnesota's seriousness about preserving the state's natural resources, nearly 60 percent of voters statewide voted to raise the state's sales tax to protect Minnesota's waters, wildlife areas, parks and cultural places.