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Minnesota Court Denies Colemans Request on Ballots
Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled against Republican incumbent Norm Coleman in his U.S. Senate recount battle with Democrat Al Franken, refusing to order election officials to throw out more than 100 ballots Colemans campaign says may have been double-counted. Franken says he holds a lead of 35 to 50 votes out of nearly 3 million cast. The courts decision means any election result will wind up being challenged in court, Colemans lawyer said. This ensures that no certificate of election will be issued because it is inevitable the recount will be challenged, Fritz Knaak, Colemans lawyer, said in a statement. A legal challenge would mean Minnesota wont have the Senate race decided by the Jan. 6 start of the next term, he said. State election officials are trying to certify the results in the next few weeks. Colemans campaign argued to the court that in 25 precincts, voters whose ballots were damaged were given duplicate ballots, allowing them to vote twice. Most of those were Franken voters, Coleman said. Todays unanimous ruling means that the process can move forward despite attempts to halt its progress, Franken spokesman Andy Barr said in a statement. The recount we strongly believe will result in the election of Al Franken. The decision leaves it to state election officials to continue their review. More than 1,000 absentee ballots must also be sent to state election officials by Jan. 2, according to a ruling earlier today by the same court. Additional hearings of the canvassing board will be held Dec. 30 and Jan. 5 to address disagreements over spreadsheets of votes and absentee ballots, Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie said yesterday. Posted by: Beavis 2008-12-25 |
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