Minnesota Supremes Agree to Hear Coleman's Lawsuit To Stop Vote Count
Al Franken isn't out of the woods yet.
The state Supreme Court has agreed to hear Norm Coleman's lawsuit to stop the counting of the wrongly-rejected absentee votes, which have come to be known as the "Fifth Pile." The court will be hearing arguments Wednesday.
The court's order doesn't give any obvious hints as to which way they would rule -- it only means that they see this question as important enough to hear arguments and give a ruling -- but it does show that the fight over these ballots is far from over.
The Coleman camp has argued that the wrongly-rejected absentees can't be included in the recounted totals, but can only be a basis for challenging the result in court once an outcome is certified without them. Considering the extreme difficulty of an election challenge, you can see the logic of their strategy, and of the Franken camp's urgency to get these ballots tallied.
In a good sign for Franken, the court didn't stop local officials from counting these ballots in the meantime, which the Coleman camp had been asking for -- but the suit may already be having a chilling effect. Minneapolis city spokesman Matt Laible told Election Central that the city is not likely to move immediately on counting their pile: "Any decision that would be made would probably be coming tomorrow or later, and probably later, considering the court hearing on Wednesday."
Of course. Because the one thing Norman, as a Republican, can't have is votes actually being counted.
December 15, 2008 6:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
"My impression, certainly from what I was hearing from the Franken folks over the weekend, was that they were ... trying to undo this count of these ballots, and that's not the case," said Knaak. "We're about the business of making sure, though, that all similarly situated voters, all similarly situated ballots are counted the same way -- wherever they are in the state."
Okay, so here's my question: Aren't those who had ballots improperly rejected and those whose ballots were accepted "similarly situated" in that both groups correctly filled out and filed their ballots? Then why should not both these groups be treated the same by counting their ballots?
December 15, 2008 6:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is the logic I've been following all along, too.
A ballot is a ballot is a ballot.
Shouldn't the purpose of the recount be to review all ballots, accepted, rejected, on-site, abesentee, whatever, and verify their acceptablility and voter intent according to the laws of MN?
I'm glad the MN Supremes are hearing the case. They would likely be involved at some point anyway, and this case should give an idea of how the court leans w.r.t. this election.
December 15, 2008 6:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
December 15, 2008 6:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gee, what a shock. However, I would guess that the Minnesota supremes are nothing like the right-wingers sitting on the US Supremes. Try again cooler. What a pathetic putz.
December 15, 2008 7:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Should Franken counter-sue to compel the counties to do what the Canvassing Board did not have the authority to compel?
December 15, 2008 8:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
So what is the political composition of the court's members? Are they Dems or Repubs? How are they appointed? Are they elected? Nominated by a Dem, Repub governor or Jesse Ventura?
December 15, 2008 8:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
a Repug trying to stop a vote-count.. gee, what a surprise.....
December 15, 2008 9:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Franken campaign press release:
The Al Franken for Senate campaign today commended Hennepin County for its decision to correct errors related to the improper rejection of absentee ballots. The county today instructed localities within its jurisdiction to immediately sort rejected absentee ballots and report the results to the county canvassing board so that so-called "fifth pile" ballots may be included in a revised count. Hennepin County set a deadline of tomorrow for the sorting to be completed.
Communications Director Andy Barr:
"We are glad that Hennepin County, Minnesota's largest, is moving forward with this important step to ensure its residents are not unfairly disenfranchised, despite the Coleman campaign's efforts to steal the vote from citizens of our state. We urge all counties to follow its lead in protecting the franchise for its voters, and look forward to this process continuing smoothly, efficiently, and fairly."
December 15, 2008 11:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Did you know Minnesota had the hightest state voting participation of any state. Something like 77%. I think I trust the culture up there to maintain common sense and fairness. Where are the Republican paid mobs and rioters this time? Try shutting down a recount in the state where more eligible people have voted than anywhere else in the country. They will call you out. Minnesota is also the state where percapita volunteerism is the hightest in the US. Nevada being the lowest. Hmm.
December 16, 2008 2:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
oh, they are there. only they sent warm weather thugs, and they are all huddled together by the motel room heater.
December 16, 2008 2:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
Minnesota is also the state whose voters elected Norm Coleman in the first place, and thought Jesse Ventura as governor was a great idea. Let's not put them on too high a pedestal.
December 16, 2008 3:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
The seat that Coleman won was after Paul Wellstone was killed in a plane crash. Coleman would never have beat Wellstone, who was the most liberal member of the senate. Al Franken will be a great replacement for Wellstone.
December 16, 2008 3:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
They also had a toss up senatorial election. So that pushed turnout. My guess is a lot of those Republican staffers from the Brooks Bros riot are too busy looking for work these days to come to Minnesota. That and I hope more than a few have had second thoughts about the administration they helped bring to power.
December 16, 2008 2:58 PM | Reply | Permalink