The pool of votes in Minnesota could be poised to expand by the enormous amount of…89.
This comes after a court-ordered statewide search for a type of rejected absentee ballot known as a 3-A ballot –Â an absentee ballot for a non-registered voter, in which the voter mistakenly placed the registration form inside the inner secrecy envelope, rather than immediately within the outer envelope as they were supposed to.
Out of about 1,500 envelopes searched, only 89 were found with completed registration forms, and could potentially be counted by this court. Deputy Secretary of State Jim Gelbmann told TPM that the ballots represent a pretty even distribution of votes from across the state, though there are some standouts — for example, Olmsted County had 15 of them, and Washington County had 12. Both counties’ overall vote totals were heavily pro-Coleman.
It’s hard to tell how this whole pool of votes will turn out –Â it’s possible (though not certain) that it may have a pro-Coleman geographic tilt. On the other hand, Al Franken won the absentee ballots by a decent margin, and also did very well among new voters. In either case, we’re talking about only 89 ballots, drawn from throughout the state, so don’t expect a big swing either way.
