lsanderson | Minnesota Court Ruling a Setback for Coleman

March 31, 2009, 7:30 pm
Minnesota Court Ruling a Setback for Coleman
By David Stout AND Bernie Becker
Al Franken, the comedian turned politician, won a potentially decisive court ruling on Tuesday in his bid to unseat Senator Norm Coleman, the Republican incumbent in Minnesota. More

Coleman all but concedes, but will appeal court ruling
Total is far fewer than Coleman sought in effort to close gap with Franken
By PAT DOYLE , Star Tribune

In a potentially decisive ruling, a panel of three judges today ordered up to 400 new absentee ballots opened and counted, far fewer than Republican Norm Coleman had sought in his effort to overcome a lead held by DFLer Al Franken.

The ballots appear to include some that Franken had identified as wrongly rejected as well as ballots that Coleman wanted opened in his quest to overcome a 225-vote lead that Franken gained after a recount.

About half come from Hennepin, Ramsey and St. Louis counties, places Franken won by significant margins, though many of those are from suburban precincts that the Republican carried in November.

"We are very pleased," said Franken lead lawyer Marc Elias shortly after the ruling. More

Coleman-Franken recount: 400 ballots to be opened next week
By Jay Weiner | Published Tue, Mar 31 2009 4:35 pm

With Franken ahead by 225 votes, Coleman sought to have 1,360 ballots opened. The ruling (PDF) calling for 400 — with many from Hennepin, Ramsey and St. Louis counties — does not bode well for Coleman. The judges also scolded the Coleman lawyers for not proving their case well enough to include more ballots in this next round of ballot opening.

However, this is not the judges' final decision. The judges haven't ruled on the law, and this decision affects only the opening of ballots.

They didn't address key legal issues dear to the Coleman side, such as whether there were violations of constitutional "equal protection" rights because ballots were counted differently in different counties. More