Minnesota Elections - Will the Real Senator Please Stand Up!
Minnesota is about to get a senator elected, and now the question is whether the losing candidate will try to get the court to overturn the election. Franken is the favorite at this point since he leads by 224 or 225, depending on which report you read, and this lead will be almost impossible to overcome.
In a very unusual move the Minnesota Supreme Court asked that certain information be filed last Saturday (January 3rd) for a probable hearing - at some point. The issue is whether certain absentee ballots should be counted. The Supremes earlier ordered that all the absentee ballots identified by the candidates as wrongfully rejected (and they were wrongfully rejected and not counted) should be counted so long as both sides agreed.
This is a strange ruling because, while most of the the absentee ballots were counted pursuant to agreement between the two camps, some were not accepted by one party or the other. It is a mystery why the court put interested parties into the position of deciding which ballots can be counted. The other problem, as I understand it, is that some uncounted absentee ballots were never identified by either party prior to a deadline established by the court. Those ballots were never counted (although some were probably correctly rejected.)
Finally, there is the allegation of double counting. This allegation appears at this point to be based upon assumptions and wishful think instead of proof.
In Minnesota there are only four valid reasons to reject an absentee ballot: the voter is not registered, the ballot is late (past the deadline,) voter fails to sign the ballot, and the witness is not registered as a voter. Some of the ballots were rejected because a county official forgot to sign the ballot envelope when it was received, but that is not a valid reason to reject the vote.
Coleman is reportedly threatening to bring legal action if Franken is certified as the winner - which may happen as early as today. The Governor reportedly will not certify until all legal challenges are resolved, so this could drag out for awhile.
it would be nice if the losing candidate, after the recount and after certification by the election board, would concede - that would be a class act. It isn't good for the election process to be fought out in the courts after the votes are counted. Minnesota has a very good election process, and after the recount, the citizens can be confident that the party that won will be the next senator.
UPDATE: COLEMAN LOSES IN COURT.
