ST. PAUL, Minn — Jesus, Bob Dylan and Mickey Mouse will play a part in determining Minnesota’s next senator. And so will people who marked their choice not just with a darkened oval but with an X, too — maybe for emphasis or maybe for a do-over.
Those ballots, as well as thousands of others being challenged, are crucial in the tight battle between Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and his Democratic challenger, Al Franken. A state board begins meeting Tuesday to decide their fate.
But an Associated Press analysis of the more than 5,000 challenged ballots found that most of the votes have clear intent and no deficiencies for which they would be disqualified under Minnesota law.
Of the 2.9 million votes already recounted, Coleman leads Franken by fewer than 200. But AP’s analysis found that nearly 300 challenges wouldn’t benefit either man because the voter clearly favored a third-party candidate or skipped the race.
AP also found that among challenged ballots that easily could be assigned, Franken netted 200 more votes than Coleman. But Coleman has withdrawn significantly fewer ballot challenges than Franken.
Of the remaining challenges, AP found that only about 1,640 couldn’t reliably be awarded to either candidate. Secretary of State Mark Ritchie has set a goal of completing the challenged ballot reviews by Friday.
