Board rejects Coleman's request that it review rulings on 16 ballots

[babylonsister]

:thumbsup:

Board rejects Coleman's request that it review rulings on 16 ballots

By KEVIN DUCHSCHEREand MIKE KASZUBA, Star Tribune staff writers

Last update: December 23, 2008 - 12:14 PM


State Canvassing Board members this morning rejected the request of Republican Sen. Norm Coleman's campaign to change their minds on 16 challenged ballots that they had awarded last week either for Democrat Al Franken or not at all.

Eight of those votes they judged for Franken, and the other eight were votes that had been given Coleman on Election Day but judged as either overvotes or undervotes last week by the board.

The board agreed to meet again no later than Dec. 30 to finalize their spreadsheet updating the vote tallies for both candidates, once the withdrawn challenged ballots are reallocated.

Today's action made it more likely that Minnesota will have only one senator in place when Congress meets Jan. 6.

more...

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/36630334.html?elr=KArksD:aDyaEP:kD:aUg:oaEQDUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

[camera obscura]

1. *Points and laughs*

Ha-ha!

[opihimoimoi]

2. A song for Al from Andy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fic52wzvTo4&feature=related

[marylanddem]

3. 16 ballots? This was an amazing election. Go, Al!

[babylonsister]

4. This was Coleman's last gasp effort; I think it's just about over now.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/12/coleman_camp_launches_last-min.php

Coleman Launches 11th-Hour Effort To Undo Franken's Lead -- And Fails

Coleman Camp Launches Last-Minute Effort To Undo Franken's 48-Vote Lead
By Eric Kleefeld - December 23, 2008, 11:03AM

It simply doesn't end in Minnesota. Just as the state canvassing board was meeting this morning to review and perhaps even approve the new vote totals showing Al Franken ahead by 48 votes, the Coleman campaign put forward a new maneuver to try to undo the lead -- or to at least buy time.

Coleman's lawyer Tony Trimble said the campaign wanted to re-argue 16 decisions on disputed ballots that the board had ruled on last week, plus they alleged that 34 ballots for which the challenges had been withdrawn were then wrongly allocated, giving an illegitimate boost to Franken. Note that 16 plus 34 equals 50 -- so if they were to somehow sweep this whole set of arguments, they would just manage to undo Franken's current 48-vote edge.

The board is now recessed, planning to come back in a little while and look at those 16 ballots the Coleman camp wants to reargue. But this also means the Franken campaign will have their own turn at rearguing the disputed ballots where they didn't like the calls -- which will come up at the board's next meeting on December 30...

Late Update: And it didn't work. The board just looked at all 16 ballots, and in all 16 cases declined to take any further action like the Coleman camp wanted. So don't expect the Franken camp to fire back, as lead attorney Marc Elias indicated they didn't want to do so but were prepared to compete. Just to make sure, Dem Sec. of State Mark Ritchie said on the board's behalf that they're not interested in this coming up again.

Late Late Update: The board has now ended their meeting for the day. The 48-vote lead is not yet set in stone, though, as both campaigns have alleged clerical errors in the awarding of some of the ballots. (The Franken camp has listed just a tiny fraction compared to the Coleman campaign's 34 ballots.) That should all be checked again and hopefully resolved by the next meeting on December 30.