More Minnesota Absentee Ballots Found; Franken Makes Major Push

The Minnesota Senate recount campaign has firmly entered its legal stages, with Al Franken's chief counsel sending a lengthy and sharply argued memorandum to the Secretary of State's office on Thursday making the case for counting a group of contested absentee ballots.

The newsworthy thrust of David Lillehaug's 39-page brief for Secretary of State Mark Ritchie was the direct highlighting of 62 individual cases where voters were either "erroneously rejected by election officials for not being registered," or their absentee ballots were wrongfully rejected.

Around the same time that this memo was made public, local reports emerged that put the number of potentially wrongfully rejected absentee ballots at approximately 2,000 -- far greater than the 500 to 1,000 range that has been previously cited.

"Ballots that were not rejected by local or county officials for one of the four statutory reasons are not 'rejected' ballots under Minnesota law, but rather are 'uncounted' ballots," wrote Lillehaug. Later he added, "State procedure and past practice plainly require that all uncounted ballots that have not been rejected be counted, even if they were previously left uncounted at an earlier stage of the process. Counties are responsible for locating such ballots and counting them."

Whether or not the state decides to count the group of absentee ballots that didn't meet any of the four established criteria for rejection will likely determine the election's outcome. All other ballots are known as belonging to "Pile 5."

Franken's campaign contends that, following the hand recount and assuming that no challenges will be upheld, they will end the process up by a mere four votes. The campaign is still, nevertheless, pushing for Ritchie to count the contested group of absentee ballots, noting that many came from Democratic strongholds.

"In recent days, Minneapolis has conceded 171 ballots belong in so-called 'Pile 5,' and the Ramsey County elections official has stated publicly that 100 ballots were erroneously rejected in that county," wrote Lillehaug.

"Once a state has created the right to vote by absentee ballot and established certain governing rules for the process, it cannot retroactively deprive those voters who have substantially complied with the process of their right to have their ballots counted," Lillehaug concludes.

To get a sense of just how hotly contested the legal arguments surrounding this issue have become, Lillehaug referenced, in his memo, court rules and legislative actions that stemmed from the mid-19th Century.

A state decision in 1887, he writes, "recodified the election laws and imposed a duty on the state canvassing board to certify a 'correct' report." Earlier he dismissed court decisions from 1858 (O'Ferrall v Colby) and another from 1865 (Taylor v. Taylor), which have been used to argue against counting the rejected absentee ballots.

On Friday, Minnesota's state canvassing boards will ultimately decided on whether this group of ballots will be counted in the final recount tally.

Comments

[trendier]

There's something happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear.

[johndeckbose]

There's a man with a gun over there, telling me I've got to beware,

[ATFIllinois]

It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound? Everybody look what's goin' down.

[weatherwaxx]

It is exactly clear. It's a recount of a hotly contested election in which typical Republican tactics were used to try to tip the election.

Go back to Nov. 4. Who was screaming for a concession speech? Who was OPPOSED to an actual recount?

[jeffrey678]

VOTE BY MAIL. The vote by mail system in Oregon is the way go. No more lost and found ballots. No more lines. The state of Oregon has had vote by mail for 5 years. SEE THEIR WEB SITE. This should be law nationwide.

[weatherwaxx]

The problem with vote-by-mail is that any household with a bully -- more likely the Man of the House, but just as possibly a bullying wife/mother -- can pressure everyone in the household to vote the party line. I know too many families where this would happen -- I think it is a very bad idea to make that the only method of voting.

[MMSmith]

Let us contemplate the status other election results in the country on November 4th if they were challenged. I doubt this situation is unique.

[texasweed]

Go, Al. Count every vote. It's the American way. Succumb, wretch-ed opponent.

[thewoodywest]

Count every vote whether legitimate or not. Come on Al, this thing is can still be stolen. Get your cronies working harder to "find" ballots.

[thaneb]

Ever tire of being wrong?

[kevenseven]

Heheheheehhheee.

Yup. Wes gin steal dat rights out frum unda ya!

Heheheeheehehheeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bygollymissmolly]

And what illegitimate votes are they trying to count? You mean that illegitimate vote by the guy who had a stroke so his handwriting is a little different now than it was before.

How about you answer an honest question. If your vote was one of the thousands that were mistakenly disallowed, wouldn't you care. Wouldn't you want your vote to count? Because that's what's happening here. Nothing about "finding" new votes.

[ATFIllinois]

Shoe's on the other foot. Sucks doesn't it??

[ikesambobby]

Ask the Republican's how to steal election's. Their pro's at it.

[ikesambobby]

Coleman's probably going to prison anyway (hopefully) why won't he put us all out of our misery?

[weatherwaxx]

Yes, but if he were to win, his replacement would be a republican who hasn't been indicted yet.

[desktop]

A lot of optimism here that Franken will win. Sorry, but after going through 2000 and 2004 Bush wins and knowing how unscrupulous and unethical the Republicans can be, I will believe a Franken win when he is seated in the Senate. I am afraid it's going to be something like less than 50 vote win for Coleman at which the Coleman camp will attempt to close the books and get Coleman sworn in asap. Here's hoping my pessimism is wrong.

[Missmn]

It really is a coin flip as to who will win. The race is that tight. If the wrongly-rejected absentee ballots are included, there is a good chance that Franken will win. If they aren't, well... Of course, there is the matter of 133 missing votes and what to do with them. If those aren't counted, Franken doesn't have a chance.

[bygollymissmolly]

If Norm Coleman can somehow manipulate it so that the 133 missing votes are not counted and the 2,000 disenfranchised absentee voters votes aren't counted, then Coleman will win.

If every legitimate vote is counted, I believe that Franken will win.

If the Voting Board decides not to count the 133 ballots that were originally counted and then came up missing, and/or they refuse to count the legitimate absentee ballots, I hope that Franken sues. I also hope that the absentee voters who are being disenfranchised also sue.

All I care about is that every legitimate vote is counted. If that results in Coleman winning, so be it. If it results in Franken winning, so be it.

[cbates]

Flip the coin and end this none sense. There is no character in this country. This is a win or lose situation. We will engage the courts and lawyers and press in a waste of time for something that could be decided with the toss of a coin.

[thaneb]

At least one election was decided this way this year (sorry I've got no source). That was how the election law was written in that jurisdiction in the event of a tie. Until the recount is done and a tie declared guess this will not happen in MN should they have the coin toss rule there, as well.

[Missmn]

I believe it was a local race in Florida.

[Missmn]

Perhaps if once all the votes are counted, we find ourselves in this same situation, a coin flip might be in order. But not until the process is finished. I'm not really sure what all the hurry is about other than impatience. We in Minnesota were told to expect a decision no earlier than mid-December back before the recount started. Let's see where the process takes us, and then decide where to go from there.

[laocoon]

that is a nonsensical suggestion. why not just not have elections and flip a coin from the outset. Votes are what determines elections or you dont have a democracy. that is why we have ballots so that we can accurately count the votes and know who actually won. When the initial count is close there is always the chance it was intentionally or unintentionally inaccurate enough to change the result. I know there is always the element of possible fraud injected but another type of fraud is possible if you dont recount. You simply have to monitor the recount to avoid fraud. Anything else abandons the idea of democracy. I simply hear impatience with the job of doing our best to get the vote total right.

[demrepub]

He lost. Get over it.

[thaneb]

Except for BillO's imagination, when did this happen?

[ricland]

Franken is the next Senator from MN.

The only question now is what additional fed charges should be tacked on to the ones Coleman is already facing.

ricland

[jdmccl]

Are we using Blagonomics now? Loser is always a loser and more insane than Blago. Hate does strange things and this case is ripe.

[Untitled]

Why does Chambliss win in Georgia by a healthy margin, but there's still a runoff, yet with this incredibly close election in Minnesota, they didn't redo it.

[thewoodywest]

"Why does Chambliss win in Georgia by a healthy margin, but there's still a runoff, yet with this incredibly close election in Minnesota, they didn't redo it."

It might have something to do with a pesky little thing called the law.

[dorkus54]

The reason is that states control elections, even for president. All the apparatii are set up, operated and paid for by the individual states. That's why Georgia can have a run off for less than 50% when other states don't...

[Missmn]

Each state has its own election law. In Georgia, you need a majority of all votes cast in order to win. In Minnesota, a plurality is all that is needed. So, in Georgia, when Chambliss did not get more than 50%, it triggered a run-off. No run-off is required by election law in Minnesota even though no one got more than 50% of the vote, BUT, a recount is mandatory due to the margin.

[fiorastar]

Everyone who cast an absentee ballot in MN should contact Secretary of State Mark Ritchie's office and demand to be told whether their ballot is one of those in "Pile 5" and whether it will be counted.

[riverhouse]

Coleman is such a crook. MN should be very interested in not returning him to office.

[patrickjkiger]

The board is going to rule that these 2,000 votes must be counted. I don't see how they can rule otherwise, since the law is clearly on Franken's side.

[tzbar]

Remember Florida???

[thewoodywest]

"Remember Florida???"

Yeah, where Al Gore tried to sue his way to victory? Hopefully Franken will not have any better luck than Gore.

[Missmn]

Actually, election law in Minnesota is murky on this issue. While the law very clearly specifies what excludes an absentee ballot from being counted, it does not specify what to do or even what can be done when an absentee ballot was wrongly excluded from being counted. It sounds stupid, but that is what we're dealing with here.

[bygollymissmolly]

Well then, how about using plain old common sense then. Common sense says if it is a legitimate ballot the vote should be counted.

[LoloZ]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Franken, and even donated to the cause. GO AL!

[apoliticalchick]

Please Minnesota's "ballot disappearance" issues are nothing compared to Illinois' wonderfully functional gubernatorial system.
http://democralypsenow.blogspot.com/

[wedgie]

Witty blog spamming.

**

[BillMelater]

This is friggin reprehensible. There are clear rules in law that define whether an absentee ballot is countable. If it is not uncountable by one of those rules, then it must be counted. Make them do the right thing, Al!

Only Republicans wish to disenfranchise voters by not counting the votes. The GOP is the most anti-American party ever to hold power in this country.

http://billmel8er.wordpress.com