Challenging Times Two

Yesterday, the Minnesota State Canvassing Board dealt a blow to the Franken campaign.

Democrat Al Franken suffered a setback Wednesday when the state Canvassing Board unanimously turned down his campaign's request to include rejected absentee ballots in the U.S. Senate recount, prompting a Franken attorney to threaten to go all the way to Washington if necessary to get them considered.

The campaign handled it in it's usually classy manner...

"Whether it is at the county level, before the Canvassing Board, before the courts or before the United States Senate, we don't know yet. But we remain confident these votes will be counted," said Marc Elias, the campaign's lead recount attorney, who added that he won't appeal...

The problem for the Franken campaign is that these ballots were rejected for valid, legal reasons.

Subdivision 1. Check of voter eligibility; proper execution of certificate.

Upon receipt of an absentee ballot returned as provided in sections 203B.16 to 203B.27, the election judges shall compare the voter's name with the names recorded under section 203B.19 in the statewide registration system to insure that the ballot is from a voter eligible to cast an absentee ballot under sections 203B.16 to 203B.27. The election judges shall mark the return envelope "Accepted" and initial or sign the return envelope below the word "Accepted" if the election judges are satisfied that:

(1) the voter's name on the return envelope appears in substantially the same form as on the application records provided to the election judges by the county auditor;

(2) the voter has signed the federal oath prescribed pursuant to section 705(b)(2) of the Help America Vote Act, Public Law 107-252;

(3) the voter has set forth the same voter's passport number, or Minnesota driver's license or state identification card number, or the last four digits of the voter's Social Security number as submitted on the application, if the voter has one of these documents; and

(4) the voter has not already voted at that election, either in person or by absentee ballot.

If the identification number described in clause (3) does not match the number as submitted on the application, the election judges must make a reasonable effort to satisfy themselves through other information provided by the applicant, or by an individual authorized to apply on behalf of the voter, that the ballots were returned by the same person to whom the ballots were transmitted.

An absentee ballot cast pursuant to sections 203B.16 to 203B.27 may only be rejected for the lack of one of clauses (1) to (4). In particular, failure to place the ballot within the security envelope before placing it in the outer white envelope is not a reason to reject an absentee ballot.

This is something that happens every two years. Election judges are trained on their duties and responsibilities before they go to the polling place so it is not like these volunteers go in not knowing how to handle these situations. In addition, the absentee ballots are handled only by state employees, who drive the absentee ballots out to their respective precincts where they are then handled by the head election judge. That person, is required to only handle the ballots with witnesses present and that is usually just to count the number of absentee ballots (to make sure that there are no discrepancies in what came from the state) and then to feed them into the SECURED optical scanner.

When the absentee ballots are scanned in the precinct (by the head election judge), those ballots that are rejected are noted (again by law) with the reason why they have been rejected. Note that a mis-matched signature is NOT one of the reasons for rejection - contrary to the rumor spread by the Franken campaign.

But that's not the only misinformation floating around: An elderly woman in Beltrami County whose absentee ballot was rejected because her signature did not match the signature on her voter registration card.

"Her signature was indeed different than what was on file with the county," said Mark Elias, Franken's Recount Attorney. "And that was because she had suffered a stroke."

But that's NOT TRUE.

Beltrami County election officials say there's no such voter they know about, and that no ballots were rejected because of mismatched signatures.

The Minnesota law is so clear and the training so thorough, that even DFL Attorney General Lori Swanson weighed in against Team Franken's claims.

According to an advisory opinion issued last week by the office of Democratic state Attorney General Lori Swanson, "Only the ballots cast in the election and the summary statements certified by the election judges may be considered in the recount process." A recount manual prepared this year by the office of Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, also a Democrat, makes clear that the canvassing board only supervises "an administrative recount" that is "not to determine if absentee ballots were properly accepted."

Emphasis mine.

The statement by SOS Ritchie could be the only nail that Team Franken has to hang any appeal on. The canvassing board IS indeed only an administrative body, but it has 2 state Supreme Court Justices sitting on it and 2 District Court Judges on it. One of the State Supreme Court justices is the Chief Justice of the court. This could be important should one of Team Franken's threats be pulled into play and it sounds like it is likely to happen based on this quote from Senate Majority Leader Harry Redid (D-NV).

The board's action drew a response from the Senate's top Democrat, Majority Leader Harry Reid. In a written statement, he called the decision a "cause for great concern."

"As the process moves forward, Minnesota authorities must ensure that no voter is disenfranchised," Reid said. "A citizen's right to have his or her vote counted is fundamental in our democracy."

I would venture to guess that the State Supreme Court justices would not appreciate someone like Senator Reid (who is NOT a Minnesotan) telling them that they don't know what they are doing. Just a wild guess....

Senator Reid had best be mindful of his own words. For if the US Senate steps in to attempt to over turn the votes of the PEOPLE OF MINNESOTA he could have a fight on his hands. The people have voted, Senator and they did not chose Al Franken. While the close vote does warrant a recount and the scrutiny of a recount, the interference of outside interlopers is NOT warranted and will not be accepted by Minnesotans without a fight. Should the US Senate decide to interfere in the will of Minnesota voters, you can be assured that Republicans nationwide will also get involved and that could turn a potential hot spot into a powder keg. Meanwhile the people of MN will be without both of its representatives in the US Senate.

It is my hope and prayer that Team Franken takes the high road and accepts the results of the recount without resorting to court challenges and bringing in outside influences. However, I fear that this will not be the case. It just does not fit with Al Franken's personality at all.