In a unanimous decision this morning, the State Canvassing Board (the entity which has been charged with determining the winner of Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race) denied Al Franken’s request to include rejected absentee ballots in the recount.
This is a big victory for Sen. Coleman as it has become evident during the recount that the only way that Franken could potentially only move ahead in the vote count would be to include rejected absentee ballots in the totals.
Of course, this is still far from over and further litigation to include rejected absentee ballots is inevitable. Should a court grant Franken’s request, a replay of Florida circa 2000 will ensue with judges going ballot-by-ballot to determine whether the vote should be recorded.
But for now, Sen Coleman will likely enjoy the moral victories of prevailing on election day as well as in the official recount.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
In the event that they eventually do get counted, is there any way to predict how those might go? DOes anyone know why there were rejected; were they machine unreadable, or what?
November 26th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Here’s the thing on absentee ballots in Minnesota:
If your ballot is determined to be invalid (many, I hear, are because absentee ballots need to be witnessed at signing by a Minnesota resident) they send your ballot back to you and tell you what you need to fix in order for the ballot to be counted.
I am not sure what exactly the case would be for including ballots that were not corrected.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
My limited understanding of the ballots is that they aren’t legally allowed to say why they ballots were rejected, so there shouldn’t be any way to tell at this point. They also haven’t been opened, so the actual vote is unknown as well. My guess is that, should they evenually be permitted, each campaign would contact people and find out who they voted for before trying to get the ballot included. Quite a messy situation, really.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Thank God.
November 26th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
The only real case would be if the ballots were rejected because of “administrative error.”
November 26th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Further news, this from The Hill:
Franken won’t appeal absentee ballot decision
By Emily Goodin and Michael O’Brien
Posted: 11/26/08 02:36 PM [ET]
Al Franken’s campaign is “disappointed” that as many as 12,000 absentee ballots will not be counted in Minnesota’s hotly contested Senate race but will not appeal the decision.
On Wednesday the state Board of Canvassers unanimously rejected Franken’s (D) request to count those ballots.
In a conference call with reporters following the decision, Franken recount attorney Marc Elias said the campaign was “disappointed” in the decision. But he added: “We are not going to appeal.”
Elias noted the board “has indicated they will consider this further next week” at another meeting and said the campaign “will no doubt have more to say” at that point.
He also expressed confidence that, in the end, “these votes will be counted.”
He put off any questions about future possible legal action until after the board meets next week. “I’m not going to take anything off the table,” Elias said. “We’re going to take this one step at a time and see what the canvassing board has to say.”
The bipartisan canvassing board voted 5-0 against a brief by the Franken campaign arguing that some portion of absentee ballots were improperly disqualified under Minnesota election law.
Those 12,000 votes represent between 4 percent and 5 percent of all absentee ballots cast in the election.
At the start of the recount Franken trailed Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) by 215 votes out of the 2.9 million ballots cast. About 80 percent have been recounted and Coleman has maintained a slim lead.
But between the two campaigns there are about 3,600 votes being challenged.
Coleman’s campaign ridiculed Franken’s challenge as a “discovery” process for an eventual legal challenge to the results and argued the board didn’t have authority to revisit those ballots.
http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/franken-wont-appeal-absentee-ballot-decision-2008-11-26.html
November 26th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Wait, are they saying in one breath they won’t appeal them not being counted, but in the next saying they’re confident they WILL be counted? That doesn’t sound consistent.
November 26th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Richard M, it sounds like double-speak, but what else does anyone expect from the Franken camp. I think it means that that they’re getting a second hearing on the issue from the Board of Canvassers.
November 27th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
HAPPY THANKSGIVING MYRED WHEREVER YOU ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 2nd, 2008 at 2:52 am
Dear sirs 12,000 ballots are not counted the reasons have to be valid, not that the canvassing board does not have authority
so have them reviewed somehow and “elect” as voters intended the winning candidate.
regards,
Hodgson.
January 28th, 2012 at 12:47 am
hearing loss treatments…
2008 Senate Races | Race 4 2012…