Coleman Rests Case - Provisionally!

By Noah Kunin, Senior Political Correspondent

After almost six weeks Team Coleman has rested their Election Contest trial case concerning the 2008 Senate Race in Minnesota.  Almost.  Later this week they will submit some additional documentation and evidence (under objection from Al Franken attorneys).  Their final presentations included testimony from Gary Poser, Statewide Director of Elections for the MN Secretary of State.  Coleman attorney Joe Friedberg argued that on at least a handful of entries in the statewide voter registration system there were errors that resulted in certain absentee ballots not being counted.

These errors mainly focused on the database listing an individual having voted in person on election day, when in fact they had not.  Election officials would have refused to open and count an absentee ballot if the statewide voter registration system indicated an individual had already voted.  This line of questioning occurred late in Coleman's case, after it was discovered that some voters whose absentee ballots were counted during the final days of the recount did not have correct listings in the database.  UpTake correspondents are looking into this new Coleman argument.

Testimony concluded with a final cross-examination of Pamela Howell, an election judge from Minneapolis.  Howell worked on election night in Ward 12 Precinct 8 and also helped with the recount.  Her testimony has been included, then stricken, then included again but with a fine to the Coleman campaign as a result of not fully sharing evidence related to her testimony with Team Franken.  (Right: Coleman attorney Joe Friedberg in foreground, Pamela Howell in back - PHOTO:Jim Mone, AP Photo Pool)

Howell was the key witness in Coleman's argument that the "double-counting" of certain ballots occurred during the recount (mainly in Hennepin Count).  Howell testified that her coworker exclaimed on election day that some duplicates were not labeled as such, and therefore might have mixed with the original ballots and thus counted twice.

The Franken cross-examination was long and contentious.   The main thrust of the Franken argument was that she had no first hand knowledge the labeling did not occur.  David Lillehaug, representing Franken, also raised questions on the timing of her report of the incident.  In other precincts an incident report was immediately filed when ballots were not labeled "duplicate" - Howell did not recall filing an incident report and no such report can be found.  During the recount, the Franken campaign issued a complaint against Howell's handling of ballots.

Franken's presentation of his counter claims starts Tuesday March 3rd at 9:00am CST.  Marc Elias, Franken Election Contest attorney, indicated that Franken's case would rely heavily on testimony from actually voters, even surpassing the number of voters in total called by Coleman in a single day.  Elias also said they would be filing a motion for dismissing large sections of Coleman's Election Contest claims.

(Top: Former Senator Norm Coleman in court with his attorneys PHOTO:Jim Mone, AP Photo Pool)