[Updated several times at bottom of article.]
A late Friday finding from the 3-judge panel presiding over the Coleman/Franken U.S. Senate election contest in Minnesota has limited the number of previously rejected absentee ballots that may be reviewed for possible counting.
The 17-page order [PDF], issued late today, will likely come as a blow to former Senator Norm Coleman’s (R) chances of overtaking presumptive Senator-elect Al Franken’s (D) current lead of some 250 votes out of approximately 2.9 million ballots cast last November…
Earlier this week, the judges ordered both sides to present arguments on whether 19 different categories of rejected absentee ballots should, or shouldn’t, be considered for counting in the trial. Previously, the court had narrowed the “ballot universe” — those ballots to be considered for possible counting — to some 4,800 ballots submitted by the Coleman team, and about 800 from Franken’s team.
Most of the ballots were previously rejected for counting on both Election Night, and again during the post-election hand-count, for various reasons, most notably because voters failed to follow certain requirements, such as signing their ballots or submitting proper registration forms along with them.
“The sole question presented to this Court in this election contest,” the ruling reads, is “which party to the contest received the highest number of votes legally cast at the election and is therefore entitled to received the certificate of election.”
“Thus, by excluding ballots in categories that are not legally cast under relevant law, the Court can narrow the scope and focus of this contest.” And, with that, the judges proceeded to rule out a number of categories of ballots that were “not legally cast under relevant law and shall not be ordered opened and counted.”
Ballots that the court ruled will not be ordered to be counted:
- “An Absentee Ballot Submitted by a Voter in an Absentee Ballot Return Envelope on which the Voter’s Address Differs from the Address Provided in the Absentee Ballot Application”
- “An Absentee Ballot Submitted by a Voter Whose Absentee Ballot Application Does Not Contain the Voter’s Signature”
- “An Absentee Ballot Submitted in an Absentee Ballot Return Envelope That is Not Signed by the Voter”
- “Absentee Ballots Witnessed by a Notary Public Without Affixing a Stamp or Seal”
- “Absentee Ballots Submitted by Voters Who Were Not Registered in the Precinct”
- “Absentee Ballots Received After the Relevant Statutory Deadlines”
At this moment, we don’t yet know how many ballots remain in the “ballot universe” following the ruling, though at a telephonic press conference for reporters held moments ago, Franken attorney Marc Elias contended that some 13 out of 19 categories they’d wanted exclude from counting were, in fact, excluded in the ruling by the court. Another 4 categories they’d wanted excluded may or may not be a part of this ruling.
Though Elias didn’t know how many exactly, he said “a huge number” of ballots would now be excluded from the “universe” in current consideration. “There are a total of 17 of the 19 that it appears we’ve prevailed on, either explicitly or implicitly in the reasoning,” he said.
Franken had argued against counting ballots in 17 of the 19 categories, while Coleman’s team had wanted all but two categories counted, arguing that many of the rejected ballots should be counted, despite a failure by voters to follow all requirements for casting absentee ballots.
UPDATE 4:50pm PT: TPM’s Eric Kleefeld describes the ruling as “very bad news for Norm Coleman,” and notes that in addition to the numbers of ballots no longer available for consideration, the ruling strikes down an important argument in Coleman’s case to date:
UPDATE 5:30pm PT: Coleman’s attorneys tell AP “they believed the ruling left about 3,500 rejected absentee ballots still at play in the trial.” Consider the source in that assessment, which may or may not be accurate. But hopefully we’ll be able to get a better sense of the numbers over the weekend, after a bit of crunching.
UPDATE 9:10pm PT: Star-Tribune adds this disturbing thought:
“There may be fewer ballots to look at, but proving them up may take longer,” said Coleman attorney Ben Ginsberg.
Sigh…
Recently related coverage from The BRAD BLOG…
• Court Awards 24 More Votes to Franken
• God Wants Coleman, Says Coleman!
• The New ‘Ballot Universe’ as Week 2 Ends
• Week 2 Begins with Speculation
• ‘Slow Motion Comedy’ on Days 4 & 5
• Comedy of Errors on Days 2 & 3
Let us hope that we don’t run into a catastrophe like we encountered in the 2000 election.
What could possibly go wrong, Ray? 😉
this is excellent news…for john mccain!!
I’m surprised that the court in MN didn’t ignore controlling precedent, which by the way is a criminal violation of 18 U.S.C. § 242, and claim that it didn’t have jurisdiction to hear the election contest.
After all, that is what the Republicons claimed in CA in Busby v. Bilbray and in FL where I represented Clint Curtis, John Russell, and others in contesting 4 Congressional elections. In spite of controlling precedent, the CA and FL courts dismissed these contests claiming they did not have jurisdiction.
Perhaps, due to Al Franken’s status in the press, the MN court did not think that it could get away with ignoring the law like the CA and FL courts did. For more on the FL contests, see “Justice” in Florida’s Supreme Court!?! and don’t miss the links below the video.
I have come to belive this as a delaying tactic to make it more difficult for the Democrats to pass the stimulus bill. As I type this, there are 55 minutes to the end of voting. I guess I’ll turn on the talking heads on MSNBC and at least listen to some senses.
Oh Lord!!Between a Totally Batshyt Neocon and a Former Bit Player on SNL,What The Hell Did The Poor Citizens of Minnesota Ever Do To Deserve That KInd of Punishment???
I Thought”Cruel and Unusual Punishment”Was Unconstitutional!!
What a delight to be watching C-SPAN 2 and discover Al Franken making one of his brilliant observations in the political world, and to also, quite possibly hear it with accompnying jokes. I can hardly wait!!! Franken is brilliant!
It takes a big man to lose an election, and it takes an even bigger man to laugh at that man who lost an election.
-Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey
I am still wondering why the court system is allowing these poor loser shenanigans?
I would thing the time and money involved could certainly be used for better things in these critical times.
How long is this going to go on? Until Coleman wins?
To be fair, Franken was not just a “Former Bit Player” on SNL, but was a writer who’d occasionally appear on air. Still, I tend to agree that it’s not much of a choice between to the two, and, if I still lived in MN, since there was no Green candidate, then, considering the candidates running, I probably would’ve either voted for the Libertarian or written in “none of the above”…
Are you kidding? One that is as ingenius as Al Franken, not to mention objective, honest, and compoassionate, versus a Reptilian, that changes the rules to fit his agenda, which is beg, borrow, steal, whatever it takes, and that is my observation, factual observation, NOT merely an opinion.
Anyone that has read Franken’s books knows that he calls it like it is. That is why there has been such an effort to smear him. Some #%*hole (with big $$$) actually had a bust made out of cow…wel, you know, of him. Why? Because big money (corporate fat cats) count on liars to promote public ignorance, those like Limbaugh, are well paid. RNC has been having a love fest with multiple industries like defense and oil. Franken has the guts to speak out, using comedy in the process. Where as, I don’t think Coleman can walk and chew gum at the same time. Al Franken is undoubtedly one with an IQ that leaves others in the dust.
It looks like the famously dapper Norm Colemen will be a lot less dapper now – as he takes off his well polished senatorial designer wingtips and expensive pinstriped suit and tie and hands them over to to Franken for his trip to Washington.
Or maybe a better image would be the judge dragging them off.
It doesn’t look good for Norm…
But at least Franken will be a lot better dressed than he used to be after stealing Norm’s clothes along with his senate seat.
How about a collection to buy Norm some overalls?
Looks pretty hopeless for non-Minnesota accented Naaaaaam Coleman. Why doesn’t he just give up for the good of the country? Why does he have to drag it out and be such a sore loser?
He has to be one of the biggest fakes of all time. Just hearing him talk makes my skin crawl. The PR side of him said, “We need to change the tone in Washington” while his true side followed Bush into the abyss.
You’re done Naaaaaaaaaam!
I don’t get it, why are people here ecstatic about votes being thrown out?
It’s almost like it’s all about partisan politics!
Naw, couldn’t be…