In the seemingly never-ending battle for the Minnesota U.S. Senate seat between Norm Coleman and Al Franken, this is, I believe, how we left it on Friday:
Search For Missing Ballots Called Off
* About 130 ballots from Minneapolis are missing, city says
* Secretary of state says city has until December 16 to find the ballots
* Democrat Franken’s campaign: “Simply put, these ballots must be found”
* Incumbent GOP Sen. Coleman’s camp denies ballots are missing between incumbent Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken.
And, oh yes, a suggestion to “Stay tuned!”
To those who have had the fortitude and patience to do just that, here is the latest update from today’s Minnesota Star Tribune:
* The missing 133 ballots in a Minneapolis precinct are going to stay missing – at least for now.
* A city spokesman said today that officials had suspended the search for the ballots that began after they turned up missing in the waning hours of last week’s U.S. Senate recount.
* The matter will be turned over to the state Canvassing Board, which will decide whether the 133 will be officially counted.
The state canvassing board is scheduled to meet on Dec. 16th. Whichever way the board decides to handle those missing ballots—they are said to favor Franken—, they should be ready to contend with a lawsuit from the losing side.
Thus, even after Dec. 16th, it may still be “Stay tuned.”
