Decision On Rejected Absentee Ballots Postponed; Minnesota To Begin Recount Wednesday

St. Paul, MN (AHN) - The Minnesota Canvassing Board on Tuesday postponed ruling on whether to include rejected absentee ballots and declared that the statewide, manual recount of nearly 3 million votes cast in the race between Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) and Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party candidate Al Franken would begin on Wednesday.

"The race begins at zero," Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, who chairs the five-member board, said in a statement. "Only when this recount is completed in its entirety will we know who is elected."

Coleman, the former Democratic mayor of St. Paul, leads Franken by 215 votes. State law requires a recount in the margin between the top two candidates for federal, state, or judicial posts is less than one-half of one percent in a general election.

Meeting to certify the results of the election and declare a recount, the board on Tuesday said in a statement it will "reconvene next week to consider a proposal to review improperly rejected absentee ballots. The board has received written and oral testimony from representatives of the Coleman and Franken campaigns on this issue."

Coleman, who is seeking a second term, said the board's decision confirmed his victory for the third time.

Campaign manager Cullen Sheehan said in a statement, "Today, the Minnesota State Canvassing Board officially recognized the results of the 2008 United States Senate election and prevented the Franken Campaign's efforts to stop the recount. And, Senator Coleman has, for the third time, been named the winner of the 2008 election.... We look forward to the beginning of tomorrow's recount, and to what we believe to be the ultimate conclusion of the final chapter of this year's election - the re-election of Senator Norm Coleman."

Citing cases of wrongly rejected ballots, Franken had filed a brief with the board on Monday asking that rejected absentee ballots be examined and those wrongly excluded from the tallying be counted. Last Thursday, Franken filed a lawsuit seeking information about rejected absentee ballots in Ramsey County.

The Democrat also said in a statement that the board had, in fact, "declined to certify a winner."

Campaign communications director Andy Barr added, "We are pleased that the board also agreed to consider our concerns that absentee ballots were improperly rejected and should be included in the vote tally... we are confident that the recount will be conducted smoothly, fairly, and in accordance with Minnesota law. And we hope the Coleman campaign will finally join us in urging that every vote be counted."

The board said it aims to finish the recount, which will cost the state about $90,000, by Dec. 5. The review of questioned ballots will begin on Dec. 16.

Minnesota's Senate race is the most expensive Congressional contest this cycle, with Coleman having raised $19 million and Franken $17 million for a total of $36.2 million. It is also one of two remaining Senate races which have yet to be called, with the other being in Georgia where a runoff is scheduled for next month. Democrats need victories in both races to gain a 60-vote filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.