171 uncounted ballots turn up; gain for Franken
By Curt Brown, Star Tribune

Last update: December 2, 2008 - 3:09 PM

The final day of recounting in Ramsey County in the U.S. Senate race kicked up controversy today when 171 uncounted ballots from Maplewood turned up. The ballots apparently had been uncounted because of a ballot-counting-machine malfunction on Election Day.

Democrat Al Franken made a net gain of 37 votes from the ballots, as he got 91 of the total, to 54 for Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and 26 for other candidates, including Dean Barkley of the Independence Party.

Once those were counted, election officials found that there appeared to be 31 more ballots cast than the number of voters who signed in or voted by absentee ballot at Maplewood's Sixth Precinct, at the Hazelwood Fire Station. Shortly after, they said the explanation was that registration cards accompanying absentee ballots hadn't been recorded, as they should have been; when they were recorded, the number of voters and ballots matched.

The ballot counter malfunctioned after 171 ballots had been feed into the machine, said Ramsey County elections manager Joe Mansky said. When the machinery was replaced, the ballots were in the ballot box but went uncounted until today's recount.

Mansky said the ballots had been safely secured along with the others since Election Night.

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