By Richard Crawford

An improperly placed ballot and the luck of the draw resulted in Al Franken netting two coveted votes in the hotly contested U.S. Senate race with Norm Coleman.

After more than 2.5 million votes were cast Nov. 4, the candidates were separated by 206 votes as of Wednesday. An official recount will be conducted next week but the vote tally has shifted slightly in the days following the election as election officials across the state have certified their results.

On election night, Coleman, the incumbent Republican, was the clear winner in Carver County. He won every precinct and countywide he trounced DFL-challenger Franken by a vote of 26,969 to 14,102. Independence Party candidate Dean Barkely received 7875 votes.

Prior to certifying the vote, the total changed. Franken gained one vote and Coleman lost one vote for a net gain of two for Franken, Taxpayer Services Manager Laurie Engelen said on Wednesday.  

Why the change?

Franken plus 1 Hollywood Township: The additional plus vote for Franken was the result of an improperly entered ballot in Hollywood Township, Engelen said. A voter didn’t correctly place his ballot, which had a vote for Franken, into the vote tabulating machine. Instead of being placed in the correct slot, it was slid between the tabulator and the ballot machine. Engelen said the voter told election judges that the ballot may have been incorrectly inserted as he was leaving. After results were reported that night, the ballot was found in the wrong spot.

Coleman minus 1 Chanhassen Precinct 1:Coleman lost a vote that was cast for him in Chanhassen Precinct 1 after it was discovered that there was one more ballot cast than the number of signatures provided by voters at the polling location, Engelen said. The numbers have to balance when the election results are reported. When there is a discrepancy in the number of signatures and ballots at a polling place, state statute dictates that ballots are randomly withdrawn so that the numbers are equal.

In this case, one ballot had to be randomly withdrawn. That was a Coleman vote. Franken can thank his lucky stars for that drawing. There were 1,049 Coleman votes and 542 Franken votes in Chanhassen Precinct 1.

Here is the official state statute that specifies what to do when there are more ballots than signatures at a polling place (with the drawing language highlighted at the end): 

8230.4370 COUNTING BALLOTS.

The election judges shall open the ballot box and any overflow containers, remove the ballots, and determine the total number of ballots. If the election judges determine that the total number of ballots is greater than the number of persons voting and that it is impossible to reconcile the numbers, the judges shall follow the procedures in Minnesota Statutes, section 206.86 [2].

Subd. 2.Excess ballots.

If two or more ballots are found folded together like a single ballot, the election judges shall lay them aside until all the ballots in the box have been counted. If it is evident from the number of ballots to be counted that the ballots folded together were cast by one voter, the election judges shall preserve but not count them. If the number of ballots in one box exceeds the number to be counted, the election judges shall examine all the ballots in the box to ascertain that all are properly marked with the initials of the election judges. If any ballots are not properly marked with the initials of the election judges, the election judges shall preserve but not count them; however, if the number of ballots does not exceed the number to be counted, the absence of either or both sets of initials of the election judges does not, by itself, disqualify the vote from being counted and must not be the basis of a challenge in a recount. If there is still an excess of properly marked ballots, the election judges shall replace them in the box, and one election judge, without looking, shall withdraw from the box a number of ballots equal to the excess. The withdrawn ballots shall not be counted but shall be preserved as provided in subdivision 4. 

The official recount is scheduled to begin next Wednesday.