Democrat Al Franken’s lead widened Tuesday in the close recount battle for a US Senate seat from Minnesota.
(Alexis C. Glenn/UPI)Photos (1 of 1)
Franken tightens grip on Senate seat, but lawsuit looms
The counting and recounting ends in Minnesota, with Democrat Franken leading Republican Coleman by 312 votes. But Coleman can still appeal the outcome.
By Mark Guarino | Correspondent/ April 7, 2009 edition
Chicago
A winner was finally tallied Tuesday in Minnesota’s US Senate contest between Democrat Al Franken and Republican incumbent Norm Coleman. But that does not yet mean there’s a final victor.
The two candidates’ battle to win the seat began in November and has already involved a 47-day ballot recount and a subsequent eight-week contesting of 350 formerly rejected absentee ballots. The counting of those ballots, finished Tuesday, resulted in Mr. Franken capturing 198 ballots to Mr. Coleman’s 111, boosting Franken’s lead to 312.
Franken won the initial ballot recount in January by 225 votes in what is considered the tightest election in Minnesota history.
But in all likelihood, this is not the final chapter. The stakes are high. If Franken wins, he will take the Democrats to 59 seats in the Senate – one short of the number needed to break Republican filibusters. Under Minnesota law, Coleman can appeal to the state Supreme Court, and his lawyers have suggested they might go further, taking their case to the US Supreme Court.
Coleman’s lawyers “have a great case” due to evidence that absentee ballots were handled differently in separate districts, says Sarah Janecek, publisher of Politics in Minnesota.
“When you have a race this close, this is where you see the warts [in the process], and it’s not going to be pretty,” she says.
Minnesota’s procedure for contesting close votes is unique among the 50 states, says Mark Ritchie, Minnesota’s secretary of State. The three-step process – a recount, a contesting of the election results, and an appeal to Minnesota Supreme Court – is time-consuming. But Minnesotans also say it is fair.
The exhaustive recount process “reflects that this process has been transparent,” says Kathyrn Pearson, a political scientist at the University of Minnesota, suggesting that the Minnesota challenge has been relatively orderly in comparison to the challenges in Florida after the 2000 presidential election.
“The bottom line is this is an extraordinarily close election,” she adds.
According to Minnesota rules, the state Supreme Court decision is followed by the Minnesota secretary of State and governor cosigning the election certificate, effectively filling the seat. “In Minnesota, we do bend over backwards, and if someone is unhappy, they do get their final day in the [state] Supreme Court,” says Mr. Ritchie.
But if Coleman bypasses the state decision and takes his case to federal court, he would potentially damage his long-term political career in Minnesota, says Dr. Pearson, the University of Minnesota political scientist.
“When you think [US] Supreme Court, you think the 2000 election,” says Pearson, noting that that election was ultimately decided by the federal high court.
“We’ve already seen an erosion of support for Coleman if he appeals,” she adds. “He has to think about aggravating your medium voter … at a certain point, enough is enough.”
The experience has revealed potential pitfalls with Minnesota’s three-step appeal system.
“If our state had been close in the presidential race … we would not have made the deadline set by Congress for the Electoral College ceremony,” says Ritchie. “It made me aware we potentially have a train wreck set out before us.”
The state’s generous appeal process is one that, by its very nature, will be used to the fullest extent by either side, Ritchie adds.
“When you have a legal system of attorneys who bill by the hour, there is a certain amount of self-interest in dragging the process out longer,” he says. “When you have such partisan divide in the [US] Senate, there is interest to prevent this seating.”
Comments
2. Paul | 04.07.09
To many attorneys and partisan divide make this senate race a joke. Al Franken will fit right in with the far left spending.
3. jimbob | 04.07.09
Where does this fall into the “No Taxation Without Representation”?
Minnesotan’s are missing representation at the federal level, but due to a State level process. Does this mean the State owes its citizens tax relieve?
4. The Realist | 04.08.09
Franken is a whining quack. He will end up winning this election because as with all contested elections in the past, the Democratic party is going to cry until they get what they want and will exhaust all means below bar to get it. This election will go down as one for the history books of magic and wonder; with the magical votes that kept appearing for Franken.
5. John | 04.08.09
Well observed [The Realist]. You only have to look at the previous governor’s election in Washington to see that.
6. Bruce | 04.08.09
Realist–you have an amazingly short memory–Bush/Gore in Florida, for example? Both parties will fight for what they want, and the courts may or may not yield justice.
7. dizizcamron | 04.08.09
yea democrats always get exactly what they want. just like in 2000. nope this type of situation has never worked to republican advantage…ever.
8. Freewriter | 04.08.09
Bruce is right. This isn’t about who is better, Democrats or Republicans. Either side would be doing the same thing right now, and if it had been Franken doing the appealing, I’d have called him the whiner. But the person doing the whining is Coleman, by not giving it up after loosing recount after recount.
9. Richard | 04.08.09
Coleman is nothing more than a poor loser. The Regressive Party (Republicans) seem to have that characteristic. The sun has set on his mediocre career but, then there’s always burger flipping as a second job.
10. Archie1954 | 04.08.09
This carnival sideshow has gone on long enough. Here we have the opponent trying to out comedy the comic. It isn’t going to work, anyway Coleman is going to be spending all his new free time working on his defense to numerous ethics and fraud hearings and court cases that face him shortly.
11. Beth | 04.08.09
As a Minnesotan, I’m proud of our state’s processes for contesting elections. From the recount to the various court challenges, it has been methodical and dedicated to giving every legal vote fair consideration. If anything, the appeals granted to political candidates have allowed the process to become an ongoing carnival - a testament to the attitude of the losing party here, Norm Coleman. You’ve had your day in court, and then some - retire as gracefully as possible, Mr. Coleman. Show that you actually care for the state you claim to be fighting for.
12. Cathy R. | 04.08.09
I regret that we are wasting so much time on attorneys’ fees, esp noting the recession. Franken is the fair winner on this; I hope Coleman steps down and saves time and money for the community and state.
13. emmakopke | 04.08.09
No one better proves than Coleman that Republicans are all about power and have NO interest in the democratic process or the Constituion.
And to think it was that same ilk that touted “democracy” as a reason to invade Iraq! While most of us surmised
correctly that it was all about grabbing that country’s resources, perhaps the blind Republican voters can now see the truth, as well!
14. Ted | 04.08.09
There is nothing necessarily wrong with a “three-step” process to assure the election was fair. But there has to be some time limits. It just does not take this long to decide which ballots were legally cast and need to be counted and which ones were not legally cast and do not need to be counted. And then to count the legal ones. This all should have been settled by the end of December. This is inexcusable. If this is what is required in Minn, then they do need to change the law. And soon before this happens again.
15. Ned Grossnickle | 04.08.09
Coleman has lost this election. Every time they count more ballots, he loses by ever larger margins. He is simply denying the Democrats of the Senate seat they won and need to partially offset the “most fillibusters in the history of the U.S. Senate” (check it out, its true) by the Republicans.
If the U.S. Supreme Court hears this case, it will be 2000 all over again.
They claim to support states rights until the conservative justices are unhappy, and then they step in and take over without any justification from the Constitution. If they are smart, they won’t hear this case. They took a huge reputation hit from their inappropriate intervention in Bush v. Gore.
16. om santi | 04.09.09
To dizizcamron
You said this type of situation has never worked to republican advantage, and that democrats always get what they want, just like in 2000 ?
DO you know (or remember) what happened in 2000, when the Florida voting challenge was presided over by the Supreme Cort with the result its winning Bush (republican) over Gore (democrat) ?
Or maybe you don’t know what’s Bush’s party, or forget who became President in 2000 ?
17. om santi | 04.09.09
To dizizcamron
You said that this type of situation has never worked to republican advantage ? And that democrats always get what thay want, just like in 2000?
Do you remember exactly what happened when the Florida counting votes challenges was presided by the Supreme Court in 2000, that the Court wins Bush (republican) over Gore (democrat)?
Or maybe you don’t know from which Party the elected President in 2000 came from, or how he could “win” although he lost the popular vote ?
18. Vicki | 04.09.09
Republicans are losing so many elections that they are getting very desperate as they sink down down down…. People are tired of the hateful actions taken by republicans every time they can’t cheat to win. Senator Al Franken is an enemy to republicans. He wrote the book ‘Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Liar’. Can’t write a better book than that to portray the liars that republicans in government have become. Where is their honesty, decency, righteousness,and bipartisanship? Republicans have none. If you care about America you want Franken in the Senate. If you care about America you want President Obama to succeed at everything he wants done to correct the wrongs that republicans have done.
19. Jay Eb | 04.09.09
It takes two to tango. If Franken hadn’t filed the first legal appeal Coleman would be sitting in congress now, where he could still be sitting today as this all happens because he was the incumbent. Franken on the other hand had very good lawyers, just like the ones up in Alaska! Oh wait those lawyers who got the Retardican Senator thrown out by convicting him while breaking so many laws that they will now get to spend 15 -20 in the prison. Many times it isn’t who is right, it isn’t who is wrong, it is who can hire the best lawyers, and this time it looks like comedian Franken did. Now if the same rules were applied to every vote Mr. Fraken’s own attorney’s couldn’t even have made up the difference, but since they managed to get some ballots recounted (at least twice) and others that appeared to be valid thrown out he will win. And every one who thinks this has anything to do with justice, with right, or with correct: I have a bridge for sale.
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1. Marko | 04.07.09
Coleman should pack it in. He already seems like nothing but a sore loser.