The Minnesota Recount Begins
By Doug Mataconis | Related entries in 2008 Election, General PoliticsThree weeks after Election Day, Minnesota is finally getting around to figuring out who their next Senator will be:
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - The largest-ever recount in Minnesota history has more than just voters in the state biting their nails.
An army of election workers was to begin a statewide recount Wednesday of more than 2.9 million ballots to determine a winner between Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken.
Minnesota’s race looms large in the broader Washington, D.C., power struggle. Depending on another undecided contest in Georgia, the Minnesota outcome could determine if Democrats attain a 60-seat majority that would enable them to overcome Republican filibusters.
The Minnesota recount is required under state law because the votes cast for Coleman and Franken differed by less than one-half of 1 percent. The incumbent Coleman’s 215-vote lead heading into the recount translates to 0.008 percent.
By the end of the tedious recount process - expected to extend well into December - the campaigns and the public will at least know who got the most votes, even if litigation causes the battle to drag on.
Which means that the Minnesota race is likely the last one to be resolved.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, General Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
