A three-judge panel considering Norm Coleman’s election challenge in Minnesota handed the former Republican senator a partial victory on Tuesday, allowing the inclusion of roughly 4,800 rejected absentee ballots during the recount trial.
Mr. Coleman’s legal team was seeking the reconsideration of some 11,000 ballots, but even the smaller number could tip the balance of the contest once the trial, now in its second week, comes to an end.
At the conclusion of the statewide recount in January,Mr. Coleman trailed his Democratic challenger Al Franken by more than 200 votes. Mr. Coleman went to court to challenge the results.
Ben Ginsberg, a lawyer for the Coleman campaign, called Tuesday’s decision a victory.
“We’ve continually called for every valid vote to be counted, and counted only once,” he said in a statement. “This is a strong step in the right direction, and we applaud the decision of the court today.”
Lawyers for Mr. Franken wanted the court cap the number of ballots eligible for reconsideration to about 600, but Marc Elias, a Franken lawyer told the Minneapolis Star Tribune he did not view the decision of the panel as “a loss for either side or a win for either side.”
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/minnesota-judges-gives-coleman-election-challenge-a-boost/