"Challenge, identifying mark."
"Challenge, voter intent unclear."
Those words have been said over and over again throughout the three days I have observed the Minnesota Senate election recount thus far. I've learned quite a lot about how the parties play the game, and I have not always been pleased with what I saw. Pettiness, unnecessary challenges and new requests abound. By the end of my third day I was getting tired of it, and I'll bet the election judges were too.
In much of Minnesota, we use paper ballots where you fill in a circle next to a candidate's name. A challenge, if made, is supposed to be based on a campaign observer's belief that the election judge is counting the ballot for the wrong person. Let's say the voter made a mark in between the two candidates' circles and you couldn't really tell which candidate a vote was for — the voter's intent is unclear. And occasionally, someone puts their name or other information on a ballot that would identify who the voter is, and since we have anonymous voting in Minnesota, that identifying mark could disqualify their ballot. These are circumstances where you might legitimately expect a challenge.
