Senate-race Shenanigans

Monday’s Wall Street Journal has a nice editorial review of the shenanigans going on in the Minnesota senate-race recount. After clearly explaining how—and why—vote totals could have swung so frequently in Mr. Franken’s favor, failing to mark duplicate ballots, judiciously deciding which absentee ballots are recounted, etc., the article concludes:

Minnesotans like to think that their state isn’t like New Jersey or Louisiana, and typically it isn’t. But we can’t recall a similar recount involving optical scanning machines that has changed so many votes, and in which nearly every crucial decision worked to the advantage of the same candidate. The Coleman campaign clearly misjudged the politics here, and the apparent willingness of a partisan like Mr. Ritchie to help his preferred candidate, Mr. Franken. If the Canvassing Board certifies Mr. Franken as the winner based on the current count, it will be anointing a tainted and undeserving Senator.