Recount trial: Judges rule thousands of ballots can be considered

Nearly 4,800 rejected absentee ballots may be reconsidered in the U.S. Senate recount trial, after the presiding three-judge panel issued a ruling today defining boundaries for the proceeding.

The court granted Democrat Al Franken’s request to limit the universe of ballots that Republican Norm Coleman can seek to have counted, rejecting Coleman’s attempt to have about 11,000 rejected absentee ballots reconsidered. But Franken had asked the judges to limit the review to only the 650 ballots cited by Coleman when he filed his lawsuit last month challenging the recount.

With Franken holding a 225-vote lead after the recount results were certified, the 4,800 ballots that may be reconsidered would appear to be enough to put the ultimate outcome in doubt.

The court order indicates that any of the ballots that complied with state law should be counted, along with those where errors occurred through no fault of the voter.

But the order limits Coleman to presenting evidence on those ballots specifically disclosed to the Franken legal team by Jan. 22.

Coleman lawyer Fritz Knaak said he believes that the number is about 4,800, and Franken spokeswoman Jess McIntosh said that was also her understanding.

The argument that many more rejected absentee ballots should be reconsidered has been central to Coleman’s effort to overtake Franken’s lead since the state Canvassing Board certified results of the recount Jan. 5.

After today's ruling by the panel, Coleman legal spokesman Ben Ginsberg said, “We’re thrilled.”

On the Franken side, head recount attorney Marc Elias said, “I don’t view it as a loss for either side or a win for either side.”

Earlier today, both sides agreed that more than 900 other absentee ballots that were initially rejected and then accepted by both campaigns during the recount won’t be contested in the trial.

In that instance, the judges said, lawyers for Coleman and Franken stipulated that the 933 ballots “were properly and lawfully opened and counted” and the results properly included in the recount results certified by the Canvassing Board.

The trial resumed today in St. Paul, as Coleman attorney Joe Friedberg questioned Washington County official Kevin Corbid about procedures for training election judges and handling ballots.

Friedberg asked Corbid about how they handled absentee ballots where voters may have sealed their registration card inside the “secrecy envelope” intended to include only their ballot. Corbid said that such votes are usually rejected, unless it’s obvious in some way that the envelope — which is supposed to be opened only by vote tabulators — contains the necessary card.

Corbid said that they would feel the envelope and hold it up to the light to determine whether it should be opened to get the registration card.

“If we couldn’t tell it was in there, we decided not to include it,” he said.

Friedberg asked Corbid if he might have used “a senstive scale” to weigh the envelope and determine whether it contained two pieces of paper rather than one. Corbid responded that “that wasn’t part of our directive.”

Corbid said that such ballots made up only “a fairly small number” of the roughly 400 rejected absentee ballots that county officials looked at after the Supreme Court ordered a statewide review.

In the end, Washington County officials decided that 34 of those ballots had been improperly rejected and should be counted.

The trial is continuing this afternoon, as Coleman lawyers question individual voters whose ballots were rejected without their knowledge.

Staff writer Pat Doyle contributed to this report.

Kevin Duchschere • 651-292-0164