35 Replies to “Voter Intent”

  3. It’s disgusting that it’s being challenged. Particularly if you have an image of Al Franken in your head.
    Just shameless. I guess his representatives will argue that it all depends on the what the meaning of “vote” is.

  4. Anyone who marks a ballot in that fashion deserves to have it discounted. For stupidity if nothing else. An X was too much to fathom?

  5. Yes AJ but someone just has to scream “it’s not fair, it’s not fair” “I’m ENTITLED to that vote!” Doesn’t matter if it’s a libero-fascist schill or a Repubo-con schill. These people are gonna whine no matter what. Politicians & the pundits are just like farmers, they just whine, whine, whine. Quite tiresome & boring really.

  6. Do you actually know what he was told at the polling station, AtlanticJim? Maybe he marked an X and then wondered if he was supposed to fill it in like you do on certain computer scored tests and so on.
    It doesn’t matter, really. Look at the ballot. Who do you think he voted for, Atlantic Jim? Was it Franken? Was it Barkley? No, eh? It’s crystal bloody clear who he voted for, your arbitrary “stupid” rule notwithstanding.

  7. Yeah, I saw this on Drudge too as well as HuffPo. Speaking as a long time ballot counter there should be no question as to the intent of this voter. Had the mark been beside Franken I’m quite sure there wouldn’t have been.

  8. “Anyone who marks a ballot in that fashion deserves to have it discounted. For stupidity if nothing else. An X was too much to fathom?”
    Actually, optical readers are used, so you’re suppose to fill in the circle.

  9. X, check mark or fill in the dot, this moron was obviously incaple of any of those feats.
    I imagine that we all took some satisfaction in the zogby vid yesterday, so we could point and laugh at the absolutely miserable level of knowledge displayed by Obama voters.
    This ballot is an acceptable representation of the right side of the spectrum? If this was a vote for the idiot Franken I wonder what the response would be.
    Hypocrisy is a narrow bridge.

  10. Here in Massachusetts, they have Sharpies in the booths, so it’s easy to fill the bubble.
    The optical reader obviously had no problem with it, or it would have spit it back.

  11. You’re right, Gregg. Kathy at fivefeetoffury.com has a quote up from lawyer Bill Starr, a volunteer from the Al Franken campaign: “People who voted for Coleman are more likely to have taken the SAT in their lifetime,” he said. “They’ve filled in circles. Franken voters are probably not college-educated. They’re new voters and immigrants. They’ve been brought in by groups like ACORN, from the inner cities. They’re more likely to make mistakes. I’ve bounced this off of minority people, and they agree with me.”
    Hmm, AtlanticJim, apparently those too stupid to mark an X are the ones whose votes will count…

  12. Ridiculous… This reminds me of the recent recount in Kitchener-Waterloo, where Andrew Telegdi’s lawyers tried to have a ballot for Peter Braid discarded because the voter wrote “Bless You” below his name: image via The Record
    Braid Wins by 17 Votes After Recount
    —-
    Both sides focused on a ballot from northeast Waterloo with the words “Bless You!” written under Braid’s name on a ballot.
    Telegdi’s lawyer argued the phrase could possibly identify the voter because it hearkened back to the 1800s, before ballots were secret, when people would sometimes vote for a candidate in exchange for alcohol.
    The voters would often leave code words on the ballot as a sign that they had fulfilled their end of the bargain, Graham said.
    “I think we can say of the temperance of someone who writes ‘bless you,’ that this is not a case involving a bottle of rum,” Barlow countered.
    The vote stayed on Braid’s side.
    —-

  13. Atlantic Jim: Are you saying it’s not clear who he voted for, or are you saying that the vote should be discounted because you think the voter is stupid?

  14. Um what if it was a ‘senior’ who made this vote?
    Wrote and X, then realized she/he’s suppose to fill it in and tried to do so. Resulting in harsh and undue criticism because big man Al can’t be a good loser in a fair race in the first place? NOT everyone has excellent eyesight or excellent manual dexterity. Suppose though that will be the new requirement, not intelligence of politics but on how well you can fill in a small circle.
    Old folks need not apply.
    IF a whole line of the candidate had been scribbled out and a new fresh X or filled in circle in another candidates block then I could see it being called into dispute.

  15. Franken really does emulate his SNL character, Stuart Smalley. What a pissy pants sissy boy sore loser.

  17. No surprize! Franken must have used a page for the last Quebec referandum where thousands of ballots were refused for the NO side. At least the American dempcracy is transparent enough to even see the questional ballots. In Quebec after countless year of legal battles a Quebec Judge ruled to destroy them. That my friends is Quebec Canadain politics.

  18. No surprize! Franken must have used a page from the last Quebec referandum where thousands of ballots were refused for the NO side. At least the American democracy is transparent enough to even show the questional ballot(s). In Quebec after countless years of legal battles a Quebec Judge ruled to destroy them. That my friends is Quebec Canadain politics.

  19. As far as “Democratic-Farmer-Labor,” that’s what Minnesota Democrats are called. Apparently the Farmer-Labor party merged with the Democrats there in 1944.
    On the real subject, this is clearly a Coleman vote, and furthermore they should have Sharpies on hand (they do that in Chattanooga also, one or two at each seat) to reduce the chance of that happening.

  20. To someone with poor eyesight, that circle is filled in. Not counting it is discrimination against the visually impaired. Calling it stupidity is insulting.

  21. I would have loved to have had gregg counting votes in Florida in 2000. We wouldn’t have had any of this “stolen election” nonsense since Bush’s victory margin would have been much larger.

  22. If Franken wins using these tactics and the Dems support it they will loose a ton of political capital nation-wide. I envisage campaign placards with a picture of this ballot – the dems are crooks.

  25. I work regularly as a scrutineer, to keep the counters honest. This would never be questioned, whether pro or anti. The voter’s intent is clear.
    Franken reveals the “Democrat’s” delusion that they represent the “people”. Any vote not for the “people’s representatives” is obviously wrong.
    Remember Gore-Leiberman? Or Sore-Loserman? They are so infatuated with themselves they cannot possibly believe people will vote against them, except as paqrt of a vast conspiracy to deny them power.

  26. The fix is in anyway. They found some lost ballots in the trunk of a car and when counted there wasn’t one vote for Coleman. Not one. Now come on. Something about a law of averages!!!

  28. Posted by: Revnant Dream at November 20, 2008 7:18 PM
    You may remember that the senator for Pittsburg or Philadelphia, the guy that served in Vietnam, called his democrat voters racists and something else. They rewarded him with win for another term.
    Such is the state of democrat voters mind.

  29. Lev:
    Your right. I keep forgetting with all the turncoats flocking to Obama . Politics have reached anew low if not even decipherable anymore. We just don’t know the rules yet for an Absurdcuracy.

  30. He’s not a comedian , he’s a joke.
    No Jesse The Body Ventura voter is going to vote for a PMS’ing Stuart Smalley.
    I have no fear.

  31. Sheesh. Have none of you people never been involved with vote counting? During a recount, any evn slightly questionable ballot will be challenged. this is true for both sides and that is why, so far, Frankens people have 106 challenges up and Colemans have 115. I can pretty much guarantee that a ballot like that shown will always be challenged and will almost certainly end up being counted.
    As for the Canadian vote, the exampled list of acceptable and deniable ballots explicitly mentions any identifiable marks (particularly handwriting) as a reason to discard a ballot. I’m surprised a judge allowed it.

  33. That “ballot box in trunk of car” is not a true story, of course – the box was being transported with other boxes and had a chain of custody. But hey, the truth doesn’t matter.
    That ballot was challenged because it looks like it could be a signature, and the law is clear that votes can’t be personally identifiable. Of course, if you’re Norm Coleman, apparently “consistency of political belief” is enough to disenfranchise hundreds. Who’s being stupid there?

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