Coleman camp projects win, if court helps

Sen. Norm Coleman’s (R) campaign said Monday it expected to defeat Democrat Al Franken in the Minnesota Senate race — but only if the Minnesota Supreme Court grants them a key victory in a lawsuit.

Coleman campaign officials told reporters that they would be ahead of Franken after the withdrawn ballot challenges lodged by campaigns are included in the final total, but only if the count was “legal” — meaning roughly 150 duplicate ballots expected to favor Franken aren’t included in the tally.

{mosads}The Coleman campaign has filed a lawsuit in the Minnesota Supreme Court arguing that a number of “duplicate ballots” — copies of ballots created by local officials to mirror damaged ballots — were counted twice during the state’s hand recount.

“The inclusion of duplicate votes violates the principle of one person, one vote,” said Coleman campaign manager Cullen Sheehan. “Our message today is simple and clear: If the balance of this process is completed fairly and legally, Norm Coleman will be in the lead.”

Marc Elias, a lawyer for the Franken campaign, disputed the claim.

“There is no evidence that any ballot has been counted twice.  None,” Elias said in an e-mail to The Hill. “The Coleman campaign has failed to show any legal or factual basis for their claim on this issue.”

The Coleman campaign invoked an earlier decision by the state Board of Canvassers that used election night returns over the hand recount tally in a Minneapolis precinct after ballots were lost during the recount. While the Coleman campaign opposed that decision, it urged its application for precincts in which there were duplicate ballots, citing the need for consistency in rulings.

“The Canvassing Board doesn’t necessarily disagree with us,” Coleman attorney Fritz Knaak said of the lawsuit. “They just simply don’t think they have the authority for this.”

The Coleman campaign said a majority of duplicate ballots were located in a county including the urban center of Minneapolis, which favored Franken in the election. They also pointed out that the Minneapolis director of elections, who sided with Franken’s campaign on using election night totals, has also called duplicate ballots a “big issue” in the city.

The Board of Canvassers will meet tomorrow to include challenges withdrawn by both campaigns in the tally for both candidates. According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Franken leads Coleman by 251 votes.

This article was updated at 3:29 p.m.