So the closeness of the U.S. Senate race in Minnesota was so close that it triggered an automatic recount under Minnesota law, meaning the various campaigns had an opportunity to look over the various ballots, looking for errors or invalidations that can be challenged. Minnesota Public Radio was kind enough to provide us with a sampling of challenged ballots. Some thoughts:

I know the campaigns are desperate, but it's rather embarrassing when the elections commission has to deal with really stupid challenges, like this one:

Ballot #9: The Eraser
The Franken campaign challenged this ballot. Even though the voter filled in the bubble next to Barkley's name, a Franken representative said what appear to be eraser marks over Franken's bubble indicated the voter intended to vote for Franken. (MPR Photo/Curtis Gilbert)

Who on earth indicates a choice by erasing it? Why is anybody spending any time on this? Same here:

Ballot #8: The Dot
The Coleman campaign challenged this ballot, arguing the voter didn't intend to vote for Franken, because of the small dot inside the bubble next to Dean Barkley’s name. (MPR Photo/Curtis Gilbert)

Ballot #5: Lizard People
This Beltrami County voter cast their ballot for Al Franken, but also put "Lizard People" as a write-in candidate, not only in the U.S. Senate race, but for several others. The county auditor/treasurer ruled that the vote should not be counted because it's considered an overvote. Representatives for Franken challenged that decision. (MPR Photo/Tom Robertson)

Heh. I think I originally voted to discount this ballot, and then changed my mind to give this to Al Franken. I guess my argument is that the voter didn't fill in the oval for write-in, so it should be counted as a vote for Franken, whereas they did fill it in above in the selection for presidency.

Sigh...