More Votes Keep Turning Up In Franken's Favor

The never-ending recount continues today with 171 new ballots discovered in Ramsey county, 91 went to Franken, 54 to Coleman and the rest went to other candidates.  The found ballots were from a machine that broke down early on Election Day in a precinct in Maplewood.  The machine was replaced, but the ballots in question wren't fed through again, according to Joe Mansky, Ramsey County elections chief.

The discovery of these new ballots underscores the importance of the recount, which has been likened to watching paint dry in it's tedium.  The found ballots still put Coleman in the lead, but by a small margin.  The AP reports:

Through Tuesday, Coleman's margin was 303, a comparison made possible because counties are reporting recount numbers that compare directly with their precincts' Nov. 4 results. However, those numbers could still shift as the last counties complete their work by Friday.

"That's why we do the recount," Mansky said. "That's why we're doing everything by hand — so we can discover those kinds of errors."

Coleman's attorney, Fritz Knaak, said the campaign accepts Mansky's explanation but had lawyers double-checking the numbers. "We're looking into it," he said.

Ramsey County, centered on St. Paul and the state's second-largest county, finished its recount on Tuesday; all of the state's 87 counties are supposed to finish by Friday. A belt of counties where Coleman fared well on Election Day were due to start their recounts Wednesday.

There are 6,000 ballots that are currently being challenged by both candidates, that is 27 out if every 10,000, with a total of 2.9 billion.  This will definitely be a long and tedious process, especially when looking at the details of the challenged ballots, which are not obvious at first glance.

Check out Nate Silver's assesment of the recount at fivethirtyeight.com, and follow the link to view some of the challenged ballots.  See if you can spot the problems.