|
|
Friday, November 21, 2008
|
|
The work begins CROW WING COUNTY Senior Reporter The campaigns may have been rancorous but the recount was quiet, organized and collegial.
Thursday, the supporters from four political campaigns watched and waited as Crow Wing County began its recount for the U.S. Senate race between Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., and DFLer Al Franken and the race for Minnesota House District 12B between Rep. Al Doty, DFL-Royalton, and Republican Mike LeMieur of Little Falls.
By noon, Doty's recount was complete. The outcome remained the same with Doty winning re-election. By noon nine ballot counting tables, with two election judges, flanked by observers from the Coleman and Franken campaigns, were busy recounting the Senate race. On Election Day, voters cast 16,103 votes for Coleman and 13,025 for Franken in Crow Wing County.
|
|
|
|
Election judge Char Nelson sorted through ballots Thursday at the Crow Wing County Land Services Building during a recount for U.S. Senate and Minnesota House of Representatives 12B. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
» Purchase reprints of this photo.
|
|
|
|
|
Auditor Deborah Erickson anticipated the recount would be complete by noon Friday. The recount is designed to physically look at each ballot and determine the voter's intent. It does not determine other questions, such as whether absentee ballots were properly accepted or rejected. Ballots challenged by either candidate's representative will be forwarded to the state.
Since the election, the ballots have been in a locked room. Thursday county staff and sheriff's deputies transported the ballots to the recount room in the Land Services Building behind the historic courthouse in Brainerd. A long line of white ballot boxes identified by precinct stretched along the recount room's back wall. Election judges and election officials are the only people allowed to physically touch the ballots, which were sorted into candidate piles and counted in groups of 25.
After the House 12B recount was complete, observers for LeMieur were satisfied with the process. Floyd Richmond of Little Falls was an election judge for about 15 years. "The ballots were the best I've ever seen," Richmond said of the well-marked ballots that made it easy to determine the voter's intent. While the optical vote counters make it easier for election judges on Election Day, Richmond said it's reassuring to have a paper trail and be able to physically look at the ballots so the candidates know each vote was counted correctly.
By the lunch break, election judge Rebecca Guida had been part of a team recounting six precincts and finding the recount mirrored Election Day results precisely. Guida said Erickson was organized and the recount teams were well prepared.
Minneapolis attorney R. Reid LeBeau II, who represented LeMieur, said Crow Wing County was well organized and had a smooth process. LeBeau said the county took every possible step to make sure votes were counted accurately.
|
|
|
|
Crow Wing County auditor's office employee Sandy Cosert (left) and Crow Wing County Auditor Deborah Erickson conferred while David Asp, an observer for House District 12B House candidate Mike LeMieur; election judges Rita Kirzeder and Becky Guida; and Stacy Ellefson, an observer for House 12B Rep. Al Doty, DFL-Royalton, watched the recount Thursday at the Crow Wing County Land Services Building in Brainerd. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
» Purchase reprints of this photo.
|
|
|
|
|
"Obviously, we would have liked the outcome to be different," LeBeau said.
Recount numbers
At the end of the first day of recounting in Crow Wing County for the U.S. Senate race between Sen. Norm Coleman and DFLer Al Franken, 13 ballots were challenged.
Twelve precincts remain to be recounted Friday morning.
|
The number of candidate supporters thinned out after the Doty/LeMieur recount of about 5,000 ballots was concluded before noon. Crow Wing County Sheriff's Deputy Eric Klang, no stranger to recounts, added a watchful eye to Thursday's proceedings. In 2006, Klang lost his re-election bid for sheriff to incumbent Todd Dahl. The recount confirmed Dahl's victory - by a margin of 10 votes. This time a bystander, Klang said the recount provides confidence in the election process.
Mike Simpkins, Franken organizer, praised Crow Wing County's recount organization and Minnesota's clean election process. He agreed the recount atmosphere was collegial and the work simple and clear-cut where ballots are counted and the candidate with the most votes wins.
"It's like a community social, it really is," Simpkins said, adding many of the people from each campaign know each other. "We're neighbors. We're Minnesotans before we are Republicans or Democrats."
RENEE RICHARDSON may be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.
To Subscribe to the Brainerd Dispatch, Click Here.
Note: Comments are not edited and don't represent the views of The Brainerd Dispatch. Please read our posting rules in the terms of service policy. To report a post that may be inappropriate, click the triangle alert icon.
|
|
|
|
|
 Top Commented Articles
Over the last 7 days
Most Recent Comments
|
|
|
|
Thinking about a New Job?
These employers want you!
|
Loading...
|
|
|
Today's Best Classifieds:
|
|
|
|
|
|
