The panel reviewed the contested ballot that had the bubble filled for Franken but also had "Lizard People" scrawled in the write-in slot (without the bubbble filled). The panel rejected it as an overvote claiming that they had no proof that "Lizard People" was not an actual person, thereby indicating intent to vote for that person.

On another contested ballot, "Brett Favre" was written in but the bubble filled for Coleman ... the vote was awarded to Coleman by the decision that "Brett Favre" was not a person.

Go figure.


edit: The Favre write-in was above Coleman's name and not in the write-in slot.

i thought it was okay, but when the Lizard People bubble wasn't filled in then i wonder how they came to the conclusion not to count it for Franken. i thought the Coleman / Favre vote should have gone to Coleman and that the Lizard People should have gone to Franken. but as long as they're being consistent then the end result looks very good for Franken so i don't mind.

Personally, regardless of who it benefits, I don't think any ballot that is not properly filled out should be counted.

The instructions are clear: fill in the empty circle. If you can't do that right, it's time to do society a favor and step in front of a moving train.

Remember "ScanTron" forms from school? The rules were simple: properly fill it out with a number 2 pencil or you would fail. If I can figure that out in the third grade, I should think Minnesotans can get that right.

It's Plus Franken 167.

Is the only thing we have left is Coleman's challenges so this number can only go up?

Virtually all of these Coleman challenges would go to Franken if a computer scanned it and went by your rules of just counting ones where the voter could fill in a circle.

under Bryan's request even the rejected Lizard People ballot would have been a vote for Franken. heh.

truth be told, i used scantron in my classes. the machine would grade and then i'd go back and give credit if i could tell the intent. my objective was not to grade their test taking abilities as that wouldn't be valid; rather, my objective was to measure their understanding of the curriculum.

I used them all the time in my class and I still have to go through and correct errors it makes. Imagine thousands of thse and not in prime condition.. Scantron reading is far from perfect, trust me. It's about 98% accurate, so most of th time it's OK, but in races this close...gotta do manual checks if you want to be 100% acurate.

They are in lunch break highlights reliving the Lizard People vote. There was also a vote for you! FSM, clear as day.

i am humbled by the votes, but that person is obviously a pirate.

Franken up 276. wow!

See that bubble in your photo that's marked "C" ... that's exactly the kind of mark that Coleman is challenging.