Coleman calls for expanded ballot count

Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), who once implored Democratic opponent Al Franken to end his bid for a recount, now favors expanding the number of previously rejected absentee ballots that will be counted by the Minnesota Canvassing Board.

Coleman’s one-time lead in the hotly contested race has evaporated, with Minnesota officials estimating Franken leads by 46 votes.

{mosads}Following a meeting at the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office, lawyers for Coleman’s campaign told reporters Franken’s campaign is cherry-picking counties from which to accept approximately 1,350 wrongly rejected absentee ballots.

“The Franken campaign is trying to hurry this process along with no concern for trying to get it right,” Coleman attorney Fritz Knaak said Monday, labeling the Democratic efforts as “nothing more than a blunt political calculation.”

“The Franken campaign does not want to count every vote. They want to count every Franken vote,” Knaak said.

Just two days after Election Day, Coleman, who then led by 725 votes, urged Franken to waive his right to a recount. “I would step back. I just think the need for the healing process is so important,” Coleman said. Later, the first-term Republican said he regretted the comments.

Franken’s campaign indicated it was shocked at the Coleman campaign decision, but declined to immediately comment on it, citing a 4 p.m. EST meeting in which both campaigns would formally present the lists of ballots they argue should be counted.

The dispute centers on absentee ballots that are set to be counted by the statewide Canvassing Board beginning next Monday. Coleman’s campaign said it expects the total number of incorrectly rejected ballots to grow by potentially hundreds.

“It is obvious mistakes were made on Election Day,” Knaak said. Coleman co-counsel Tony Trimble estimated the absentee ballots would split “relatively evenly at worst” for the Republican’s campaign.

Franken’s campaign made it clear that they were frustrated at the way Coleman’s lawyers had handled the situation.

Franken’s campaign said it had initially sent Coleman’s campaign a letter Saturday morning asking them to accept the list of 1,346 votes the Minnesota Secretary of State should count.

They requested Coleman’s lawyers respond by 4 p.m. on Saturday, but noted they did not hear back until 11:01 p.m. Sunday, with the Coleman camp saying the proposal was “unacceptable.”

“There was actually almost no progress made, to our dismay, over the weekend,” Franken attorney Kevin Hamilton told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “At this point, the process just seems to be broken.”

On Monday, Coleman attorney Knaak dismissed the Franken proposal, which he said “was not credible nor was it made in good faith.” Knaak said the Coleman campaign is still reviewing rejected absentee ballots in order to prevent any voter disenfranchisement.

Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie (D) said the Canvassing Board could finish with the absentee ballots and be prepared to issue a final report by Jan. 6, when the 111th Congress is sworn in, but the likely litigation could prevent a senator from being sworn in for weeks, if not longer.