>>> request to keep improperly rejected ballots out of the U.S. Senate recount
By whose standards??? Clearly this is not a factual news article by a fake "news report" that is really an opinion piece... On Dec 19, 2:42 pm, Florida Cracker 532 <[email protected]> wrote: > Minnesota Supreme Court Weighs Absentee Ballots > http://www.truthout.org/121808S > At a sometimes testy hearing, the state Supreme Court heard the > Coleman campaign's request to keep improperly rejected ballots out of > the U.S. Senate recount. > > Minnesota's disputed U.S. Senate race went before the state > Supreme Court on Wednesday, as Sen. Norm Coleman's campaign sought to > keep improperly rejected absentee ballots from becoming part of the > official recount. > > After a 70-minute hearing, both Republican Coleman and Democratic > challenger Al Franken awaited a ruling by the state high court that > could uncomplicate one of the largest remaining issues in the race - > whether as many as 1,600 absentee ballots that may have been > improperly rejected should be part of the recount now being completed > by the five-member state Canvassing Board. With the candidates > separated by such a narrow margin, the absentee ballots could be a > deciding factor. > > At Wednesday's hearing, lawyers for both campaigns were peppered > with questions from the court, which was presided over by Justice > Alan > Page. Both Chief Justice Eric Magnuson and Justice G. Barry Anderson > recused themselves from the proceedings because they were again busy > Wednesday sorting through challenged ballots - another critical issue > in the recount - as members of the Canvassing Board. > > The hearing in a packed room began with Justice Paul Anderson > testily responding to Roger Magnuson, the lead attorney for Coleman, > who compared Minnesota's recount to the 2000 presidential election > dispute that focused on the counting of ballots in Florida. "This is > not Florida," said Anderson. > > Coleman's campaign does not want the Canvassing Board to count > any > improperly rejected absentee ballots, saying it is not the proper > body > to settle that issue. Instead, it wants those ballots set aside and > preserved in the event either campaign goes to court after the > recount > to try to get a judge to include them in the tally. The Franken > campaign wants the recount before the Canvassing Board to include the > ballots. > > Magnuson argued that the Canvassing Board, which cannot legally > order county and city election officials to count the ballots, > confused matters last week when it recommended that local officials > sort and count them. With some counties following the recommendation, > and others not, the counts "will be inconsistent," said Magnuson, who > served as legal counsel for the Florida Senate and Legislature in the > 2000 case arising out of the presidential election. > > Bill Pentelovitch, the lead attorney for Franken before the > court, > was at times also confronted by the five justices. Page said he did > not understand why the disputed absentee ballots could not be counted > afterward should a court challenge be mounted. "What's the > difference?" he asked. > > Pentelovitch replied that once the Canvassing Board finishes the > recount and issues a certificate of election to the winner in the > race, "the presumption [is] the person who has the certificate is the > winner." > > Justice Paul Anderson, who appeared to reserve his most pointed > questions for the Coleman campaign, said he worried about the rights > of an absentee voter who cast a ballot that was improperly rejected. > "Why should a voter who does cast a ballot that's valid have to bring > a [legal] contest [to get it counted]?" he asked. "That just doesn't > seem right." --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
