Cost of '08 recount: Just 15 cents a ballot

Recounting an election isn't cheap. But as Minnesota begins that process Monday in the governor's race between DFLer Mark Dayton and Republican Tom Emmer, a study of previous recounts shows it did a better job than a similar state in curtailing costs.

The Pew Center on the States recently compared the costs of recounting the 2008 U.S. Senate race in Minnesota with recounting the 2004 governor's race in Washington.

Minnesotans cast 2.92 million ballots in the Senate election between Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken. Washington voters cast 2.88 million ballots in the governor's race between Democrat Christine Gregoire and Republican Dino Rossi.

Turns out Washington spent nearly $900,000 and Minnesota spent $460,000 -- 30 cents per ballot compared to 15 cents -- to conduct manual recounts. Washington's total costs rose to nearly $1.2 million to include a separate machine recount, which was mandated in that state but not in Minnesota.

Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie capped state reimbursement to counties at 3 cents per recounted ballot, while Washington counties operated without similar limits.

Washington wrestled with provisional ballots, used when a voter's eligibility is questioned, which weren't an issue in Minnesota. Minnesota's costs also were kept lower because challenged ballots were sent to the state Canvassing Board, "streamlining the dispute resolution process," Pew wrote. "In Washington...counties had to manage the time-consuming and contentious process of resolving disputed ballots individually."

But a bigger share of the burden fell on counties in Minnesota. The state reimbursed only 20 percent of county recount costs, while Washington reimbursed 40 percent.

Coleman to Miller: Time to move on

Former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman -- no stranger to challenged elections -- has some advice for Alaska Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller: "It should be time to move on."

In an interview excerpt from C-SPAN's "Newsmakers" that was scheduled to air Sunday, Coleman said Miller had nothing to gain from challenging the results of the Alaska Senate race. Miller trails Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who is on the cusp of winning a write-in campaign.

"I understand his concern, but I'll just be very straightforward here, I think that race is over," Coleman said. "I'm not sure there's anything that would change that. I made a decision in my race with [Sen. Al] Franken at a certain point and time and said, 'OK, let's not go any further.'"

Coleman's 2008 race against Franken dragged on for eight months past Election Day, with a winning margin that first tipped to Coleman. An extended recount and legal contest later found Franken to have won by 312 votes.

Coleman has yet to comment publicly on the recount. A call to his Washington office was not immediately returned.

JEREMY HERB

Levi Johnston gets more (Internet) hits than Pawlenty

Hot Dish passes along some observations from Nate Silver, at the New York Times FiveThirtyEight political blog:

Silver notes that potential presidential candidates will have a hard time outdoing what he calls the "800-pound Mama Grizzly" otherwise known as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

But that's not the only Palin who outdraws would-be presidential contenders. Silver points out that Todd Palin, her husband, gets about as much search traffic as Pawlenty. Daughter Bristol Palin, recently a finalist on "Dancing With the Stars," gets several times more than any of them. So does her former boyfriend, Levi Johnston.