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Franken Wins, Maybe … Most Voters Less Than Thrilled
In the continuing drama of the Minnesota US Senate race, it looks like Al Franken (DFL) is going to prevail, at least until the courts get involved. A final count has basically reversed the 250ish vote lead that Norm Coleman had into a 250ish vote lead for Franken.
Coleman and possibly some voter groups plan to sue on the grounds that the recount was flawed, that votes were improperly counted and/or double counted and that decisions on how to count disputed votes were overly biased to Franken.
For the moment, it looks like Senate Democrats will not attempt to force a seating until the courts have a chance to review things (meaning they will be at 55 plus 2 Independents versus 41 GOP).
As someone looking in from the outside, I am going to more or less leave those issues to the courts in Minnesota. I’m not in a position to determine if things were done properly or not. But I will admit it does seem a little odd that we had a 500-vote swing (or a 1,000-vote swing, if you base it on the initial count) in this race. From what I have read of past recounts in states with machines like Minnesota, the swing is usually 100 or so, at the most.
In addition I will admit it seems odd when you have a series of disputed ballots submitted by two sides and, when they are reviewed, almost all of the disputes go in favor of one candidate. You would think simple statistics would allow for a more even distribution of the decisions.
However what I find most interesting is the voter reaction I’ve been able to glean from the media. Most voters do not seem particularly thrilled with the outcome, it seems most who voted for Coleman or Franken or even Barkley did so less because they liked their choice than because he was the least objectionable.
I can’t comment as to the problems people had with Coleman or Barkley but I can see why people would have issues with Franken. This is not because of his politics, though they are certainly pretty far to the Left. It is because of his personality and attitudes towards those who disagree with him. I’ve seen nothing in this campaign to show he has the slightest respect for any dissenting views to his own.
Indeed the only people who seem excited about things are those who share that kind of an attitude. I didn’t like it when members of the GOP (like Jesse Helms) adopted such attitudes and I don’t like it now.
9 Responses to “Franken Wins, Maybe … Most Voters Less Than Thrilled”
Actually, the core of Franken's argument was that he was the successor to Wellstone. Franken argued forcefully that Coleman and the national GOP unfairly mocked Wellstone's funeral and turned it into something it wasn't. That event convinced Franken to run as the real successor to Wellstone (not Mondale, who stood in and got beaten by Coleman).
Also, the movement of recount ballots was so one-sided because whole sets of absentee ballots from Democratic strongholds were improperly rejected. It wasn't just scattered ballots around the state that just so happened to end up in Franken's favor.
[...] Now we can look forward to The Al Franken Decade of appeals and delays in seating . . . Al Franken. [...]
Al Franken could never fill Paul Wellstone's shoes. NEITHER the loudmouth Franken or the corrupt and nasty Coleman deserve Wellstone's seat.
Isn't there a better candidate in Minnesota than either of these boobs???
I take it you haven't been following the recount at all closely. I live in MN so it's been something I've followed. And I ended up very impressed at it. The Canvanssing Board was very bi-partisan and most decisions were unanimous. The whole process was very transparent, up to the point where you could look at contested ballots.
Yes, the swing in votes was a lot but most of that came from wrongfully rejected absentee ballots. Those ballots were identified by the counties and agreed to by both campaigns. Nor is it a mistake that most favored Franken. The Obama campaign pushed early and absentee voting which would favor any Democratic candidate. Democratic candidates this year were also more likely to be new or lapsed voters who are more likely to make a mistake on a ballot which a recount would catch but not a machine.
There is really no evidence of misconduct or that this result isn't accurate. And most people I've talked to are fairly happy with the result. Coleman was never overly popular and I think a lot of people are happy to see him go.
Jcavhs-
I have heard that Minnesota is a model of fairness and bipartisanship– and believe there was no misconduct. Just wish a different Democrat had won.
I have never heard of this. What's your source?
That site where you can look at all the contested ballots was a great time-suck, totally fascinating. It did seem very much to favor Franken after going through quite a few of them, likely for the same reasons you suggested, Jcavhs. From an outsider point-of-view, not knowing how the ballots came to be on the “contested” list, it just looked like Coleman's side had contested many more ballots where the voter intent was obviously toward Franken, whereas Franken's camp only contested those ballots where there was serious doubt. Your explanations seem just as plausable, and perhaps I was just being cynical.
The swing was closer to 400 votes, and out of nearly 3 million cast it's a trivial number. Simply demographics – machines aren't allowed to make judgment calls and there are cases where voter intent is clear but the ballot isn't machine readable. The recount sorts those out. The only controversy here stems from Coleman's failed attempts to change the rules midstream – attempts which were slapped down by a conservative leaning canvassing board, and a conservative leaning supreme court.
Yes, Franken isn't exactly a prize, neither was Wellstone. But this is a state that has a history of electing colorful figures, after all. Given the strong third party presence in Minnesota it's impossible to know who is really the stronger candidate in a head to head match.
I guess “most voters” shouldn't have voted for Franken then.