Florida North '08: Canvassing The Votes

Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken are still locked in a death struggle for Minnesota's U.S. Senate seat as the matter goes to the state's Canvassing Board.

After the initial recount, Coleman led Franken by 188 votes, though there have been disputes concerning the ballots. In most cases, voters were instructed to fill in the little oval next to the name of the candidate of their choice. But some people chose to paint outside the lines, so to speak, resulting in ballots marked with checks, slashes, you name it. There were even some ballots with both Coleman's and Franken's ovals filled in. (Notice we haven't talked about the absentee ballots) Both parties have since reduced the number of ballots challenged--Coleman is claiming less than 1,000 while Franken has at least 441.

The Canvassing Board, a bipartisan aggregation headed by Secretary of State Mark Ritchie (who happens to be a Democrat), have until Friday--or as long as it takes--to sort through some 1500 disputed ballots. After the first day, Coleman leads by 264 votes.

After the Board's work is done, there's a good chance it might not be over. Both sides will likely challenge the results in court. There remains the possibility that the election might be decided in Congress. A Democratic Congress. Guess who they'd favor?

You'd be forgiven if you wished that they'd settle this thing, choose a winner, and let the rest of us get on with our lives.

Be careful what you wish for. All you need to know is that the man who is vacating the White House in a few weeks got his job because of errant ballots in Florida, and an ideologically friendly U.S. Supreme Court. And he didn't even win the popular vote. What happened in the next eight years spoke for themselves.

Yes, there has to be a better way to run an election. Whoever ends up in the Senate chambers representing Minnesota may be in the best position to help do something about it.