171 Ballots found in Ramsey County

12/2/2008

UPDATE: 3:30 PM The number of ballots now matches the number of voters.   The Star Tribune reports that the people who registered at the same time they cast their absentee ballot was not included in the initial count.

BREAKING 2:08PM: Star Tribune is reporting that there are now 31 more ballots counted than voters in this precinct (including same day registrants).  Eleections Director Joe Mansky is investigating.

The Minnesota Senate Recount in Ramsey County discovered 171 ballots that were not counted on election day.  We spoke with Ramsey County Elections Director Joe Mansky who explained what occurred.

On Election Day, one of the ballot counters (a device that sits on top of the ballot box) for Maplewood Precinct 6 stopped functioning correctly.  The ballot counter was replaced by election judges but was not reactivated.  171 ballots remained in their ballot box until today, when the box was reopened during the hand recount.  Election workers quickly determined that there were more ballots in the box than on the machine tape record of election night results.  The problem was traced back to the defective ballot counter and the results of these ballots wil now be included in the recoutned totals.

Election night results from Maplewood Precinct 6: Franken 628 votes (45.41%) - Coleman 542 votes (39.19%)

TEXT: Noah Kunin