I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Does the never-ending Minnesota Senate race recount between Democratic challenger Al Franken and Republican incumbent Norm Coleman have you ripping your hair out? Are you secretly enjoying this nice extension of a gripping election season? Perhaps you’ve been wondering what could possibly be taking these people so long to just count some damn ballots.
Well, it’s the challenges, people. There are thousands of ballots that, like La Pequeña, are simply not clearly marked one way or the other.
So lucky for us, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune has a super fun game news feature on its Web site, allowing you to judge the ballots for yourself. Click on a ballot! See if you can determine which candidate is indicated by the frantic chicken scratchings of each (drug-addled, elderly, seizure-prone) voter! It’s harder than you think.
Once you’ve made a decision, simply click the box you believe represents the voter’s intent (Franken, Coleman, other) or exclude the ballot (undervote, overvote, identifying mark). You may be surprised how many votes are challenged because of an “identifying mark.” However, having looked at dozens of ballots today, I’m inclined to believe that most of the “identifying marks” are merely an indication that the state of Minnesota needs to invest in a higher quality of pen. You know, the kind that works without you having to get the ball rolling with a tornado-shaped scribble.
But then there are some truly mystifying challenges. What if a voter fills in the oval completely for one candidate, then puts a big X over that oval? What does it mean? Instantaneous buyer’s remorse? “Yes, Al Franken. He’s the one for me! Oh god what have I done?”
The latest news on the recount is that Coleman gave up challenges on nearly 500 ballots. Now both camps have given up on challenges on about 1,000 ballots each, but there are still 2,000 challenged ballots remaining.
How long will it take until all of those ballots are decided? Who knows! But at least you can amuse yourself in the meantime.
