Minnesota court ruling could help Coleman

A state Supreme Court ruling, which may exclude hundreds
of ballots that Al Franken (D) had sought to include in the recount, could help
Sen. Norm Coleman (R) in Minnesota’s contested Senate race.

The court overturned elements of a decision by the
state’s Board of Canvassers to recommend that Minnesota’s counties open and
tally more than 1,000 absentee ballots that were not counted for any stated,
legal reason. In its decision, the court forbade the board to include any of
those ballots in its final tally, except in limited circumstances laid out in
the decision.

{mosads}“We order candidates Norm Coleman and Al Franken and
their campaign representatives, the Secretary of State, and all county auditors
and canvassing boards to establish and implement a process…for the purpose of
identifying all absentee ballot envelopes that the local election officials and
candidates agree were rejected in error,” Associate Justice Helen M. Meyer wrote
in the majority decision.

Both campaigns claimed victory in the immediate aftermath
of the ruling, with the Coleman campaign asserting the court had endorsed its
argument for a uniform process, while the Franken campaign claimed victory in
the ruling’s sentiment that wrongly disqualified ballots should be counted.

Franken attorney Marc Elias said the court had
acknowledged that “Minnesotans were wrongly disenfranchised by the improper
rejection of their absentee ballots, and that those ballots must be included in
the count.

“We are pleased that the Supreme Court has rejected Norm
Coleman’s attempt to win reelection by throwing out the lawful votes of
Minnesotans who did everything right. And we are pleased that these votes will
be counted,” Elias added.

“We’re quite happy with it, really,” said Coleman
attorney Tony Trimble. “The court actually endorsed our view. Their view would
have the counties go out on their own without any uniform parameters.”

Neither side indicated that it would appeal the ruling to
any federal court. Both said that representatives from both campaigns would
begin to meet as early as Friday to discuss how to move the process forward.

Per the court’s ruling, the campaigns will be allowed to
challenge the determination of local election officials regarding voter intent,
just as during the regular recount. The decision also sets a deadline of 4:00
p.m. on December 31st as resolution of the review of rejected absentee ballots.

Both Franken and Coleman have been locked in a hotly
contested recount since Election Day, which ended with Coleman slightly ahead.
That lead has diminished to five votes as of Thursday night, after the hand
recount of ballots, and as the Board of Canvassers considers hundreds of ballots
challenged by each campaign.

Analyses done by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and Associated
Press have projected a Franken advantage at the culmination of the challenge
process.