Minnesota Senate... that close
Posted: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 5:34 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Congress
From NBC's Jeff Hanley
Minnesota still remains one of the three states with an undecided Senate race. Currently, incumbent Republican Norm Coleman leads challenger Al Franken by a mere 215 votes in a race where more than 2.9 million ballots were cast.
The Minnesota State Canvassing Board’s most recent election report today shows a separation between the candidates of roughly seven one-thousandths of one percent (.007%), making the results too close to call and a statewide manual recount will begin tomorrow.
Following the canvassing board’s recount decision, Norm Coleman’s campaign released a statement claiming, “Senator Coleman has, for the third time, been named the winner of the 2008 election.”
The statement cited the canvassing board’s rejection of Franken’s attempts to stop the recount as grounds for the official recognition of Coleman’s win as he is currently ahead.
On a conference all this afternoon, the Franken campaign responded to Coleman’s campaign stating, “The only person who has named Norm Coleman the winner of anything is Norm Coleman.”
In reference to the recount, the Franken Campaign stated that, “Tomorrow morning the vote count will be zero to zero, with more than 2.9 million to go.”
A brief filed yesterday by Franken requesting to re-examine previously rejected absentee ballots and add them to the count remains a pending legal issue, therefore the current vote tally could still not be inclusive of all eligible votes cast.
Franken’s campaign also made a point that it has not in any way attempted to stop or delay the recount.
