Coleman Withdraws 650 Challenges to Franken Votes

Sen. Norm Coleman’s (R) campaign will withdraw 650 challenges to ballots favoring Democrat Al Franken in Minnesota’s contested Senate recount, the campaign said Thursday.

The Coleman withdrawals come a day after Franken’s campaign withdrew 633 challenges to Coleman ballots, in a mutual effort between both campaigns to reduce votes among the 6,326 ballots challenged by both sides the campaigns say clearly favor one candidate.

“We do so at the direction of the Senator, who has made it clear that we work with the Franken campaign to minimize challenges,” said Coleman campaign lead recount attorney Fritz Knaak in a conference call Thursday morning. “Senator Coleman is adamant that we respect the efforts of Minnesota elections officials and volunteers to get this done quickly.”

Knaak said the campaign is “hopeful” it will continue to identify the ballots from which they will withdraw challenges, and which ballots they will encourage the Canvassing Board to review.

“We have a plausible explanation from Minneapolis election officials as to what occurred,” Knaak told reporters about 133 ballots missing in a Minneapolis precinct, favoring Coleman. “The issue in Ramsey County is pretty serious, but it may end up not mattering.”