Newly-Discovered Ballots Boost Franken

Earlier today, a precinct in Maplewood, a St. Paul suburb, discovered 171 ballots that had not previously been counted. Apparently the precinct started using one electronic machine, which malfunctioned after 171 ballots had been cast. The precinct switched to another machine, but until now, it appears that no one remembered to pull the 171 ballots out of the original machine and count them.

The Coleman campaign says that the 171 ballots will give Al Franken a net gain of 37 votes. The situation is unclear, however, because the 171 “new” ballots, together with those already counted, yield a total that exceeds the number of people who showed up and voted in the precinct by 31. It is not yet clear whether election officials will be able to get the numbers to add up.

SCOTT adds: In her Star Tribune column tomorrow, Katherine Kersten takes a satircal peek into the future to deliver the news from 2015.

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