The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports:
DFLer Al Franken's campaign scored significant victories in the U.S. Senate recount Friday, as the state Canvassing Board approved the use of Election Day results for 133 Minneapolis ballots that can't be found and also recommended that counties sort and count absentee ballots that were mistakenly rejected.
But the five-member board revealed some fissures. That came when its two Supreme Court justices put the brakes on the apparent hopes of its two district court judges to declare in advance that the board would accept the new results that include the previously rejected absentee votes.
The board chose instead to wait until those votes come in before deciding whether to accept them.
Coleman campaign officials planned to file a request today for an order from the state Supreme Court requiring counties to follow consistent standards for counting their rejected absentee ballots. They said they hoped to have a decision by early next week.
The board made clear that its ruling to accept 133 missing ballots may or may not be overturned in court. The Coleman campaign has, in fact, filed a brief pointing out that the state canvassing board, in previous elections, has accepted vote counts for ballots that could not physically be produced, and the courts have ultimately rejected the counting of ballots that don't exist.
The board will begin to count challenged ballots on December 16. There are currently 4,000 such ballots, but it appears both campaigns will withdraw a significant number of frivolous challenges before the board convenes. Coleman currently leads by 192 votes, but the Franken campaign maintains that their internal tally shows that Franken has a 196 vote edge among the 4,000 uncounted challenged ballots, thus giving the Democrat a 4 vote lead.
Once the board is done counting challenged ballots, it will decide whether or not to accept revised totals for the absentee ballots that were wrongfully rejected due to clerical errors. The secretary of state's office reports that about 600 wrongfully rejected ballots have been identified so far. It estimates that 1,600 ballots have been wrongfully rejected statewide.
