Final Days Of The Recount

Tuesday we'll know the exactly how many votes Al Franken and Norm Coleman each got so far in Minnesota's tight US Senate race.  What we won't know is how many more each might get once the campaigns agree on which absentee ballots were improperly rejected.

On Tuesday the State Canvassing Board will officially add back in all of the ballots that the two campaigns challenged in the recount process, but then later withdrew the challenges.  There were more than 5,000 withdrawn challenges.  A preliminary worksheet of those ballots shows that when they are added back in Franken will have a 47-vote lead.  Both campaigns say there are clerical errors in that spreadsheet which may change the totals.

The board cannot certify a winner in the election until it accepts and counts more than 1,000 absentee ballots that were not counted on election night.  These are absentee ballots that were mistakenly rejected by local election officials.  Before those ballots can be counted, the campaigns must agree that the ballot was improperly rejected.  There are only four reasons an absentee ballot can be rejected under Minnesota law.

According to the Star Tribune, the campaigns have been given spreadsheets of these ballots and will meet to agree on which ones should be included.   If there is disagreement between the campaigns and the counties on which ballots should or should not be included, the counties and the campaigns will meet to try to resolve the differences.   Twelve regional meetings are scheduled throughout the state and will be open to the public.

Those unopened absentee ballots will then be sent to the Secretary of State's office where they will be opened and counted.  The results will be presented to the State Canvassing Board on January 5, 2009, one day before US Senators are sworn in.  The campaigns will have an opportunity to challenge ballots they think were not counted correctly and then the board will certify a winner.

The UpTake will have live streaming video coverage of the State Canvassing Board's meetings on Tuesday and on January 5.

Should Franken's lead hold up and Coleman lose, it is very likely the Coleman campaign will file an election contest suit.  This suit could not stop the certification of a winner.  However, the US Senate would need to decide if it would seat a new Senator from Minnesota while the suit is pending.  Such a suit would be tried in Ramsey County District Court and would be before a panel of three judges assigned by the Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court.   The loser in such a contest would have to pay all court costs.