Minnesota Senate recount?

[marmar]

from the NY Times:


November 5, 2008, 9:09 am
Senate Races: Minnesota Recount
By Kate Phillips


Updated: In one of the most negative races this season, Republican Senator Norm Coleman appeared to have a tiny lead over Al Franken — one that would appear to lead to a recount under Minnesota law.

An automatic recount is called for in contests where the margin of victory is less than 1 percent, even though The Associated Press called this race for Mr. Coleman. Reports indicate that Mr. Franken is indeed calling for a recount, losing 41.96 percent to Mr. Coleman’s 42 percent, a difference of 1,123 votes with nearly all votes counted. A third-party candidate, Dean Barkley, reached 15.16 percent of the votes, clearly a factor in the narrow margin between the two main major party candidates.

Mr. Franken released a statement this morning saying that all but nine of Minnesota’s precints had reported in:

And this race is too close to call, with a margin of just about 1100 votes out of 2.9 million cast. That’s four one-hundredths of one percent of the vote. And we expect that when those final nine precincts are counted this morning, that 1100-vote margin will shrink into the hundreds.

Under Minnesota state law, we will now enter into an automatic statewide canvass and recount. It will be the first one since 1962, when I was 11 years old. I remember that year very clearly for two reasons. The recount between Elmer L. Anderson and Karl Rolvaag. And the Gophers were in the Rose Bowl that year.

And we have twice as many ballots to count this time.

There is reason to believe that the recount could change the vote tallies significantly.

Our office and the Obama campaign have received reports of irregularities at various precincts around the state. For instance, some polling places in Minneapolis ran out of registration materials. Our team has been working on those issues for several hours already, and they will continue to do so this morning as the recount process begins.

Let me be clear: This race is too close to call, and we do not yet know who won. We are lucky enough to live in a state with built-in protections to ensure that in close elections like these, the will of the people is accurately reflected in the outcome.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/05/senate-races-minnesota-recount/

[gasperc]

1. appears certain, but can we help Franken?

Does he need money to pay for the recount? what can we do to help? will the state pay for it?

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

2. State pays. It's automatic when the margin is this small.