UPDATED! Case 21-CV-12-1973: Franson's Douglas Co petition in 8B Obvious Error case

Update: Our friend Max Hailperin, a math/computer science professor at Gustavus, notes that ballots mistakenly cast in the 8B  are likely just to be pulled in three precincts.

They are:

Alexandria Ward 1- Precinct 1 where 26 voters who signed into Precinct 1 were given ballots for Precinct 2, thereby giving them an incorrect opportunity to vote in the Franson-Cunniff race.

Similarly, in Ward 5 (Alexandria City Hall), it looks like 6 voters in Precinct 1 were given the Precinct 2 ballot, allowing them to incorrectly vote in the Franson-Cunniff race. In W1P2, Cunniff is reported to have a 753-603-1 lead; in W5P2, it's 570-392-1.

Alexandria's Ward 3, which voted at New Life Christian Church. There, three more ballots were counted than voters signed in. The Cunniff-Franson-Write In counts there are 754-535-2.

A source well-informed in election procedure tell Bluestem that these are indeed where the ballots will be pulled according to the errors. [end update]

In Douglas Co obvious errors: Franson petition hearing at 3:15; only Douglas Co ballots affected, Bluestem reported that Mary Franson had filed a petition related to the Report of Obvious Errors:

Bluestem called the Douglas County Auditor's office to learn whether or not the 35 ballots would come from all of HD 8B or just Douglas County. We were told that the Douglas County Canvassing board would only be pulling from the ballots in their possession--not from the larger pool of the district.

Given that Cunniff outperformed Franson by over 1000 votes in Douglas County-- 6861-5854--there's very  slight odds that more Cunniff votes than Franson votes will be pulled, although the randomness of the draw makes those slim odds. Maybe stats or math-inclined reader  could figure the odds--AP reporting 35 not 32 [and that's the number inthe court document--of a Cunniff victory when that X ballots will be pulled in a pool of 12715 votes and one candidate has a 1007 vote advantage.

The auditor's office told Bluestem that a petition had been filed in court by one of the candidates.

A call to the Douglas County Court Administrator's office learned that Mary Franson had filed a petition. We are waiting for a scan of the court document.

The Associated Press is reporting that the error is 35 ballots, and there will be a hearing today.

Here's the petition for this afternoon's court hearing that we'd promised:

Petition of Mary Franson in the Matter of the Obvious Error --Case 21-CV-12-1973

Comments

[T Pa or Coffee]

I would think an "Obvious Error" would be any vote for Franson.