Nov 19, 2008 10:50 pm US/Central
Reality Check: Senate Recount Myths
(WCCO)
It shouldn't be a surprise that the meanest, costliest U.S. Senate campaign in the country is also the closest in Minnesota history. This year, the election didn't end on Election Day, and neither did the false claims.
Among the many rumors circulating, this one from Lisa Olson:
She writes: "If someone voted for Barack Obama, but abstained from voting in the Senatorial race, it will be assumed that person meant to vote for Al Franken. How can that be legal, let alone ethical?"
Short answer: It's not true.
Here's what's TRUE:
No matter whom you voted for in every other race, the Senate race stands alone.
If there is no vote for Senate on the ballot, no vote will be counted. That's what you intended.
One recount story that just won't die: That a Minneapolis election official drove around Hennepin County with absentee ballots in her car trunk.
Marijo Goldstein, and many others, were incredulous.
"I was an election judge," she writes, "and find that story difficult to believe."
Hard to believe because it's FALSE.
Started by the Coleman campaign and spread nationwide by Governor Pawlenty.
There were 32 absentee ballots driven to their home precincts on Election Day, as the law requires. Some of those polling sites were closed and the ballots were driven back to city hall and secured, as the law requires.
Forcing the Governor Pawlenty to backtrack.
But that's not the only misinformation floating around: An elderly woman in Beltrami County whose absentee ballot was rejected because her signature did not match the signature on her voter registration card.
"Her signature was indeed different than what was on file with the county," said Mark Elias, Franken's Recount Attorney. "And that was because she had suffered a stroke."
But that's NOT TRUE.
Beltrami County election officials say there's no such voter they know about, and that no ballots were rejected because of mismatched signatures.
The Franken campaign retracted the misinformation, but not before it was widely spread.
And what about all those absentee ballots?
Jon Raymond wants to know: "Are voters whose absentee ballots rejected informed by election officials for the reasons why their ballots were rejected?"
It's a great question.
According to Minnesota law, the election judge must write the reason for rejecting a ballot on the back of the envelope and mail that envelope back to you.
That's Reality Check.
To check the resources for this Reality Check click on the links below.
MinnPost.com: Minneapolis election director speaks: 'Ballots in my car' story falseStar Tribune: Franken seeks names of rejected votersMinnesota Office of the Revisor of Statues: Duties of Election Judges
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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