Minnesota Recount: How to Stuff a Ballot Box, and other developments

(By Ed Morrissey, Hot Air) - Remember when we used to brag about Minnesota’s election system? It seems to have developed a few blemishes since then. The state has now launched an investigation as to how 171 ballots suddenly materialized in a Maplewood precinct, giving Al Franken a 37-vote boost in the process. Soren Dayton points out that the original explanation — a malfunctioning machine — doesn’t wash:

The votes on November 4th were: Coleman 542, Franken 628. After today’s count, they stand at Coleman 596, Franken 719. A net increase of 37 votes for Franken.

One possible explanation, offered by the Maplewood City Clerk, was that the automark scanner malfunctioned during the day and a replacement scanner was brought to the precinct. The ballots that were already cast may not have been re-scanned. But when a scanner malfunctions, it is recorded on the precinct Polling Place Incident Log. Here is the log from Maplewood P-6, a malfunction is not listed.