Senate recount: 133 + 5 ÷ 87 = 1 big muddle (click title to entry - thank you)
A state panel's haggling over 133 stray Minneapolis votes and previously rejected absentee ballots in all 87 counties fell to Al Franken's favor.
By KEVIN DUCHSCHERE and MARK BRUNSWICK, Star Tribune staff writers
Last update: December 12, 2008 - 11:33 PM
DFLer Al Franken's campaign scored significant victories in the U.S. Senate recount Friday, as the state Canvassing Board approved the use of Election Day results for 133 Minneapolis ballots that can't be found and also recommended that counties sort and count absentee ballots that were mistakenly rejected.
But the five-member board revealed some fissures. That came when its two Supreme Court justices put the brakes on the apparent hopes of its two district judges to declare in advance that the board would accept the new results that include the previously rejected absentee votes.
The board chose instead to wait until those votes come in before deciding whether to accept them.
Coleman campaign officials planned to file a request today for an order from the state Supreme Court requiring counties to follow consistent standards for counting their rejected absentee ballots. They said they hoped to have a decision by early next week.
"This is the kind of chaos the board has walked us into that we are trying to avoid," said Coleman attorney Tony Trimble.
Marc Elias, Franken's lead recount attorney, called the Coleman petition "an extraordinary action to try and halt this count and re-disenfranchise these voters. ... This is all just smoke and mirrors. They are hoping to run out the clock, delay the counting of these ballots."...
