BREAKING: Court Deals Coleman Blow

By Noah Kunin, Senior Political Correspondent

Late Friday afternoon the Election Contest Tribunal issued an order rejecting 13 different categories of absentee ballots from being counted in the continuing court battle between Democrat Al Franken and former Republican Senator Norm Coleman.

The three-judge panel had previously asked both campaigns for briefs on how many of 19 different categories of rejected absentee ballots were acceptable or not: Team Franken objected to 17 categories while Team Coleman only objected to 3.

The court predominately sided with arguments made by Franken’s legal team, not just on specifics but on general legal issues.  The court concurred that statutes and previous court rulings clearly place absentee ballot voting as a “privilege and not a right”.  In addition, the court raised the burden of evidence shouldered by the Coleman campaign in adding additional ballots.  Coleman attorneys must now prove that a ballot was legally cast, not just improperly rejected.  This mean showing evidence that the voter did not submit an additional absentee ballot or arrive in person on Election Day to vote.

In a conference call with reporters, Franken Attorney Marc Elias was pleased with the ruling and the legal stance adopted by the judges.  Elias expects this order to help streamline the court proceedings moving forward.

Estimates indicate that the Coleman universe of ballots they argue were improperly rejected is now around 3,500 down from 4,797.  This includes ballots that Coleman attorneys withdrew themselves as additional information and evidence was uncovered.

To see a breakdown of the categories click here.

To read the original order click here. [PDF]

Listen to Franken Attorney Marc Elias' reaction to ruling.