Minnesota: recount procedures
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports: State law triggers an automatic recount in races decided by one-half of a percentage point or less. Starting Nov. 19, after unofficial results are certified, election auditors in nearly 100 county and city election offices will begin going over each ballot by hand as representatives from each candidate's campaign look over their shoulders.
What are the officials looking for?
The voters' intent. If names are circled or checked, those ballots will go in the proper candidate's pile. Disputed ballots will be sent to the State Canvassing Board. The Canvassing Board will include Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, plus two state Supreme Court justices and two Ramsey County District Court judges who will be named soon. If the board can't agree on which pile a contested ballot belongs, they will vote on it.
How long will the recount take?
Ritchie said Friday that the counting must be done by Dec. 5 and that the Canvassing Board will meet Dec. 16 and hope to finish up by Dec. 19. But things also might depend on legal challenges. A recount after the 1962 gubernatorial election took 139 days. -- Ballot by ballot, victor to emerge