The Big Question » Blog Archive » The margin shrinks, fluctuates

The margin shrinks, fluctuates

November 6th, 2008 – 12:59 PM by Kevin Duchschere

A short while back, Sen. Norm Coleman’s lead over Al Franken narrowed to 338 votes, down 100 votes from the margin of 438 that’s been reported this morning, then it grew slightly, to 341.

That’s according to the Secretary of State’s election results website, which now shows that Coleman has 1,211,538 votes (41.99 percent) and Franken has 1,211,197 (41.98 percent).

Why the shifts? It’s because county auditors are finding minor errors as they’re proofing their unofficial numbers before shipping them to St. Paul, said John Aiken, spokesman for Secretary Mark Ritchie.

“The counties are trying to be as accurate and transparent as possible. You’ll see fluctuations here and there,” Aiken said.

It happens all the time in every election, he said. The only difference is that for most elections, the margin is much wider and the election less prominent. Here, he said, “The eyes of the nation are on this Senate race.”

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