Franken vows to fight for seat

Democrat Al Franken’s campaign has submitted briefs and voter affidavits to Minnesota’s Board of Canvassers ahead of its Friday meeting, promising to fight in any number of venues to force the counting of absentee ballots it alleges were improperly disqualified.

“We’ve known all along, and it’s become increasingly clear to all, that there are those individuals who cast lawful ballots and yet failed to have those ballots counted,” Franken campaign attorney Marc Elias said on a conference call. “That type of arbitrary treatment of ballots is simply not permitted under the law.”

{mosads}While refusing to say what would happen if the board sided against Franken, Elias insisted that the campaign will fight in any number of venues to have those ballots counted in the contested race against Sen. Norm Coleman (R).

“One way or another, there is a remedy of those people,” he said. “It is clearly not acceptable that these votes not count.”

The Coleman campaign issued a sharp response.

“The Franken campaign has made it abundantly clear that they could care less about the outcome of the recount and are instead focusing their energies on fighting the results of the election through the court system or by taking the issue to the floor of the United States Senate,” Coleman campaign spokesman Luke Friedrich said. “We are standing behind the law on how recounts should be conducted and against efforts to change the rules when they don’t suit your needs.”

The board had previously decided it lacked the authority to order the inclusion of the ballots, which could sway the razor-thin margin in the race.

The Franken campaign told reporters that at least 358 voters had their absentee ballots rejected for no legal reason, and that the total number of such ballots — ordered to be sorted out last week by the Minnesota secretary of state — is “in excess of 1,000.”

With 15 of 87 counties having sorted their ballots, the Minneapolis Star Tribune has reported counties as having identified 244 such ballots.

According to the Star Tribune, Coleman maintains a 192-vote advantage over Franken following the conclusion of the hand recount. Franken’s campaign has said, meanwhile, that it leads by four votes in an internal tally, which, unlike the Star Tribune and the secretary of state’s count, does not exclude challenged ballots.

The Franken campaign sent the affidavits of 62 voters, who say their votes were improperly disqualified, to the board ahead of Friday’s arguments, along with a copy of an emotionally charged video of other voters whose absentee ballots were disqualified.

“We have consistently stated that every legally cast and counted ballot should be recounted,” Friedrich, with the Coleman campaign, said.

The Board of Canvassers will also decide the fate of 133 missing ballots in Minneapolis. The Franken campaign is asking the board to restore a more favorable election-night tally, while the Coleman campaign argues the hand recount tally should be used. That tally does not include those 133 initially recorded votes.