Franken Asks Court To Give Minnesota Governor A Direct Order

[dbackjon]

Al Franken asked the Minnesota Supreme Court on Monday to affirm his victory in the 2008 Senate race and hand down a ruling that would direct Gov. Tim Pawlenty to certify him the winner.

“We think the law is clear,” said Franken's lead attorney, Marc Elias, pointing to a state Supreme Court ruling on the matter in February that he said indicated “that the certification would issue after the state court process ended.”

The Minnesota “Supreme Court is the end of the state court process,” Elias noted.

The request came as part of Franken’s reply brief to Republican Norm Coleman’s appeal of a trial court decision that declared Franken the Senate winner by 312 votes out of 2.9 million cast on Nov. 4.

It seeks to pre-empt any attempts by Pawlenty, a Republican, to delay the certification should Coleman opt to appeal his case to the federal courts, something the one-term senator has not ruled out.

Noting that Pawlenty has “expressed some ambivalence or some confusion” over when he will need to sign the certification, Elias said the brief is “asking the court to reaffirm what it has already said so that Gov. Pawlenty will not have to worry about which way to turn here.”

State law requires the governor and secretary of State to sign the document before it is official.

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?d ... 0003114849

[BlueHen86]

Coleman needs to step aside and let Franken take the seat. The state of Minnesota is under represented in the Senate becasue this has dragged out this long.

[UNHWildCats]

Coleman needs to step aside and let Franken take the seat. The state of Minnesota is under represented in the Senate becasue this has dragged out this long.

agreed. Coleman can salvage whatever political future he may still have, however if he allows this to go on past the State Supreme Court ruling keeping Minn with only 1 Senator, he will have no political future.

[TwinTownBisonFan]

Coleman needs to step aside and let Franken take the seat. The state of Minnesota is under represented in the Senate becasue this has dragged out this long.

agreed. Coleman can salvage whatever political future he may still have, however if he allows this to go on past the State Supreme Court ruling keeping Minn with only 1 Senator, he will have no political future.

no... it's over for norm...

[Cap'n Cat]

Another bitter Conk.

He should sign up hee and join the rest of that mob.

[BlueHen86]

agreed. Coleman can salvage whatever political future he may still have, however if he allows this to go on past the State Supreme Court ruling keeping Minn with only 1 Senator, he will have no political future.

no... it's over for norm...

Which is probably why he is not giving up the fight, there is nothing for him to lose at this point.

[TwinTownBisonFan]

no... it's over for norm...

Which is probably why he is not giving up the fight, there is nothing for him to lose at this point.

thing is... he doesn't care. the party is doing this... not him.

he just shows up and delivers the lines on the cards when he has to.

[BlueHen86]

Which is probably why he is not giving up the fight, there is nothing for him to lose at this point.

thing is... he doesn't care. the party is doing this... not him.

he just shows up and delivers the lines on the cards when he has to.

Wow, and sad.

[SeattleGriz]

He's trying to keep the Dems from stealing a second election in which dubious votes were counted, some disallowed and others ignored. I can't blame the Dems for creating confusion with a states inability to handle close elections like these and have a coherent plan in place.

[dbackjon]

He's trying to keep the Dems from stealing a second election in which dubious votes were counted, some disallowed and others ignored. I can't blame the Dems for creating confusion with a states inability to handle close elections like these and have a coherent plan in place.

What other election are you talking about?

Florida was stolen by the Republicans, remember

[citdog]

al franken should not be seated on general principles.....but any State who elected Jessie ventura deserves what they get

[TwinTownBisonFan]

He's trying to keep the Dems from stealing a second election in which dubious votes were counted, some disallowed and others ignored. I can't blame the Dems for creating confusion with a states inability to handle close elections like these and have a coherent plan in place.

???

in MN we have insanely transparent elections... the votes were counted, in the open, in front of a 3 judge panel for contested ballots... and then again a second time... this has been a wide-open process... he lost the election... it was above board now it's just bric-a-brac trying to keep a duly elected person out of the senate.

btw... what was the first "dubious election" you speak of?

[SeattleGriz]

He's trying to keep the Dems from stealing a second election in which dubious votes were counted, some disallowed and others ignored. I can't blame the Dems for creating confusion with a states inability to handle close elections like these and have a coherent plan in place.

What other election are you talking about?

Florida was stolen by the Republicans, remember

2004 Washington State Governor.

Dino Rossi won the vote by around 300 votes, only to see that drop to just over 100 in the recount, only to see that drop to 100 votes behind in the last and final count.

They found uncounted ballots somewhere around 11 separate times, had more voters in King County than was registered. You know King County (Seattle) all pretty much went to the Dem. Plus many others that I can't remember. It was painful to see how poorly it was handled.

As I said above, can't hate a person for taking advantage of a states lack of readiness to deal with such close votes.

[dbackjon]

Discovered ballots
King County Council Chairman Larry Phillips was at a Democratic Party office in Seattle on Sunday December 12, reviewing a list of voters whose absentee votes had been rejected due to signature problems, when to his surprise he found his own name listed. Phillips said he was certain he had filled out and signed his ballot correctly, and asked the county election officials to investigate the discrepancy. They discovered that Phillips' signature had somehow failed to be scanned into the election computer system after he submitted his request for an absentee ballot. Election workers claimed that they had received Phillips' absentee ballot in the mail, but they could not find his signature in the computer system to compare to the one on the ballot envelope, so they mistakenly rejected the ballot instead of following the standard procedure of checking it against the signature of Phillips' physical voter registration card that was on file. The discovery prompted King County Director of Elections Dean Logan to order his staff to search the computers to see if any other ballots had been incorrectly rejected.

Logan announced on December 13 that 561 absentee ballots in the county had been wrongly rejected due to an administrative error.[13] The next day, workers retrieving voting machines from precinct storage found an additional 12 ballots, bringing the total to 572 newly discovered ballots. Logan admitted the lost ballots were an oversight on the part of his department, and insisted that the found ballots be counted. On December 15, the King County Canvassing Board voted 2-1 in favor of counting the discovered ballots.

Upon examination of the discovered ballots, it was further discovered that, with the exception of two ballots, none of the ballots had been cast by voters whose surnames began with the letters A, B, or C.[14] There was a further search for more ballots, and on December 17, county workers discovered a tray in a warehouse with an additional 162 previously uncounted ballots.[14] All together, 723 uncounted or improperly rejected ballots were discovered in King County during the manual hand recount.

Chairman of the Washington State Republican Party Chris Vance stated that he was "absolutely convinced that King County is trying to steal this election." The National Rifle Association, which had endorsed Rossi, sent a mass e-mail on December 14 to its members asking for volunteers to go to King County in order to sit in on the county elections office and observe the recount.

The Washington State Republican Party filed a restraining order in Pierce County District Court, requesting an injunction against King County to block the tabulation of the uncounted ballots.[15] The request was granted on December 17, but Democrats appealed to the Supreme Court. On December 22, the court ruled against the Republican Party and overturned the restraining order, allowing King County to count all ballots.[15] The next day, Sam Reed issued a statement explaining the process for certification of the uncounted ballots and the standards for fair voting practices in the state.[16]

Protesters gathered in front of both Democratic state headquarters and Republican state headquarters in the days after the injunction against King County's discovered ballots. On December 21, Republican protestors rallied in front of the Washington State Supreme Court Building dressed in orange and holding signs saying "Welcome to Ukraine", comparing the inclusion of the discovered ballots to the election fraud in the recent Ukrainian presidential election.[17]

After all other counties submitted their recount votes, it was revealed on December 20 that at least five other counties besides King County had included ballots that had been discovered after the initial count. For example, Snohomish County included 224 missed ballots that had been discovered underneath mail trays. The outcome of the State Supreme Court hearing regarding King County's votes could have potentially affected those counties' counts as well.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington ... tion,_2004

[SeattleGriz]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington ... tion,_2004

Wiki always has to gloss over the specifics. Here is something that breaks down the issues a little better:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123068520570944301.html

In Washington's 2004 gubernatorial election, at least 1,392 felons illegally voted, 252 provisional ballots were wrongly counted, and 19 votes were cast from beyond the grave, according to Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges's opinion in a case brought by Dino Rossi, Ms. Gregoire's Republican opponent.

Election workers in King County (where Seattle is located) "enhanced" 55,177 ballots to make it easier for tabulating machines to read them -- even though the county had failed to establish written procedures as required by state law. In some cases, individual election workers modified voted ballots using black felt markers and white-out tape while observers were kept at a distance that prevented meaningful observation. Nine separate times, King County "discovered" and counted unsecured ballots.

Nevertheless, Ms. Gregoire lost to Mr. Rossi by 261 votes.

An automatic recount reduced Mr. Rossi's lead to just 42 votes. The Gregoire campaign demanded a state-wide hand recount, a time-consuming and expensive process that state law says the challenger must pay for (if the result changes, the challenger is reimbursed). Big labor unions joined with far-left groups like MoveOn.org to put up the money for Ms. Gregoire's third-time's-the-charm ballot shuffle.

During the recount process, five counties found new, uncounted, unsecured ballots and added them into their totals. King County officials admitted publicly that ballot reconciliation reports were falsified in an attempt to conceal variations between the number of votes counted and the number of voters who voted (two elections workers were disciplined as a result).

By the end, 3,539 votes more than the number of voters who voted were tabulated. Four other swing counties provided an additional 4,880 mystery ballots. Ms. Gregoire was the victor by a margin of 133 votes.

In the end, Washington proved they were incapable of handling a close election and fairly determine the winner. I have heard the same is going on with Coleman, such as Franken was allowed to get certain votes, but then they decided later it wasn't right, but still let him keep the votes anyway.

[hank scorpio]

You guys are comparing apples and oranges when you use different state laws over a time span as a guide to who is corrupt in a tit-for-tat arguement. There are base federal rules set forth by HAVA, but each state will set most of its guidelines, and most likely those rules are changed every two years by legislators that have little knowledge of how an election should be run. This comes straight from the horse's mouth, I will take TTBF's word for it that the MN elections are transparent.

[TwinTownBisonFan]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington ... tion,_2004

Wiki always has to gloss over the specifics. Here is something that breaks down the issues a little better:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123068520570944301.html

In Washington's 2004 gubernatorial election, at least 1,392 felons illegally voted, 252 provisional ballots were wrongly counted, and 19 votes were cast from beyond the grave, according to Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges's opinion in a case brought by Dino Rossi, Ms. Gregoire's Republican opponent.

Election workers in King County (where Seattle is located) "enhanced" 55,177 ballots to make it easier for tabulating machines to read them -- even though the county had failed to establish written procedures as required by state law. In some cases, individual election workers modified voted ballots using black felt markers and white-out tape while observers were kept at a distance that prevented meaningful observation. Nine separate times, King County "discovered" and counted unsecured ballots.

Nevertheless, Ms. Gregoire lost to Mr. Rossi by 261 votes.

An automatic recount reduced Mr. Rossi's lead to just 42 votes. The Gregoire campaign demanded a state-wide hand recount, a time-consuming and expensive process that state law says the challenger must pay for (if the result changes, the challenger is reimbursed). Big labor unions joined with far-left groups like MoveOn.org to put up the money for Ms. Gregoire's third-time's-the-charm ballot shuffle.

During the recount process, five counties found new, uncounted, unsecured ballots and added them into their totals. King County officials admitted publicly that ballot reconciliation reports were falsified in an attempt to conceal variations between the number of votes counted and the number of voters who voted (two elections workers were disciplined as a result).

By the end, 3,539 votes more than the number of voters who voted were tabulated. Four other swing counties provided an additional 4,880 mystery ballots. Ms. Gregoire was the victor by a margin of 133 votes.

In the end, Washington proved they were incapable of handling a close election and fairly determine the winner. I have heard the same is going on with Coleman, such as Franken was allowed to get certain votes, but then they decided later it wasn't right, but still let him keep the votes anyway.

you've heard wrong. complete and utter right wing fabrication.

votes have been counted transparently and honestly.

up to and including ALL questioned ballots being posted online for public view (startribune.com had them up to be analyzed by each account member) i went through them 2000+ ballots... my count had franken the winner by 300... keep in mind... i didnt vote for the guy... i dont like him even... but he won that election.

[SeattleGriz]

you've heard wrong. complete and utter right wing fabrication.

votes have been counted transparently and honestly.

up to and including ALL questioned ballots being posted online for public view (startribune.com had them up to be analyzed by each account member) i went through them 2000+ ballots... my count had franken the winner by 300... keep in mind... i didnt vote for the guy... i dont like him even... but he won that election.

Could easily be, as I only got to read one story about the issue. But it still isn't going to keep me from speading lies and half truths about Franken

[TwinTownBisonFan]

you've heard wrong. complete and utter right wing fabrication.

votes have been counted transparently and honestly.

up to and including ALL questioned ballots being posted online for public view (startribune.com had them up to be analyzed by each account member) i went through them 2000+ ballots... my count had franken the winner by 300... keep in mind... i didnt vote for the guy... i dont like him even... but he won that election.

Could easily be, as I only got to read one story about the issue. But it still isn't going to keep me from speading lies and half truths about Franken

i didnt say the guy isn't a colossal douche-nozzle... i've met the man many times, we know each other fairly well... the guy is a complete prick... he's also the duly-elected junior senator from Minnesota.

[UNI88]

Could easily be, as I only got to read one story about the issue. But it still isn't going to keep me from speading lies and half truths about Franken

i didnt say the guy isn't a colossal douche-nozzle... i've met the man many times, we know each other fairly well... the guy is a complete prick... he's also the duly-elected junior senator from Minnesota.

And thus he will fit right in.

[AZGrizFan]

Which is probably why he is not giving up the fight, there is nothing for him to lose at this point.

thing is... he doesn't care. the party is doing this... not him.

he just shows up and delivers the lines on the cards when he has to.

Wait. So you're saying that he's a politician?

[Cap'n Cat]

thing is... he doesn't care. the party is doing this... not him.

he just shows up and delivers the lines on the cards when he has to.

Wait. So you're saying that he's a politician?

That kind of junior high response will do nothing to get you on the"sharpest" list, buddy. That's Gil Dobie caliber crap.

[SeattleGriz]

you've heard wrong. complete and utter right wing fabrication.

votes have been counted transparently and honestly.

up to and including ALL questioned ballots being posted online for public view (startribune.com had them up to be analyzed by each account member) i went through them 2000+ ballots... my count had franken the winner by 300... keep in mind... i didnt vote for the guy... i dont like him even... but he won that election.

While I was willing to accept your view, the Washington Times isn't ready.

Franken doesn't deserve his seat, plus, he's an douchenozzle by your own account.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/ma ... ate-fight/

Mr. Coleman's brief asks the state's highest court to agree to his request that 4,400 absentee ballots - which his lawyers maintain were "wrongly excluded from the count" - be added to the final election tally.

"The wrongful disenfranchisement occurred because of different standards used on Election Day by different jurisdictions for similar ballots, so that similar ballots were counted or not counted based solely on where the voter lived," said Mr. Coleman's legal spokesman, Ben Ginsberg.

Mr. Coleman is appealing a unanimous lower court ruling on April 13 that gave Mr. Franken a 312-vote lead after agreeing to count some ballots but excluding others. The central argument in Mr. Coleman's case is that the proceeding did not treat the ballots with the same standard of consistency.

"A vote that was counted in one jurisdiction was not counted in the neighboring jurisdiction. The trial court imposed a new and different set of rules in February so that instead of enfranchising the disenfranchised, they ignored the inconsistencies and flaws in the system," Mr. Ginsberg said.

"We asked the Minnesota Supreme Court to reinstate the Minnesota tradition of enfranchising voters and counting all of the valid votes," he said.

Mr. Franken's lawyers denied that variations in the standards used by different counties in counting the absentee ballots disenfranchised some voters - calling the differences "reasonable" and "minor."

In their brief, filed Monday, Mr. Franken's attorneys asked the high court to affirm the trial court's finding and order Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, and Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, a Democrat, to award him a certificate of election.

Mr. Coleman's brief Friday did not address whether the governor should issue a certificate of election after the high court rules. Democrats have pressed the governor to act even if Mr. Coleman pursues a challenge in federal courts.

[houndawg]

you've heard wrong. complete and utter right wing fabrication.

votes have been counted transparently and honestly.

up to and including ALL questioned ballots being posted online for public view (startribune.com had them up to be analyzed by each account member) i went through them 2000+ ballots... my count had franken the winner by 300... keep in mind... i didnt vote for the guy... i dont like him even... but he won that election.

While I was willing to accept your view, the Washington Times isn't ready.

Franken doesn't deserve his seat, plus, he's an douchenozzle by your own account.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/ma ... ate-fight/

Mr. Coleman's brief asks the state's highest court to agree to his request that 4,400 absentee ballots - which his lawyers maintain were "wrongly excluded from the count" - be added to the final election tally.

"The wrongful disenfranchisement occurred because of different standards used on Election Day by different jurisdictions for similar ballots, so that similar ballots were counted or not counted based solely on where the voter lived," said Mr. Coleman's legal spokesman, Ben Ginsberg.

Mr. Coleman is appealing a unanimous lower court ruling on April 13 that gave Mr. Franken a 312-vote lead after agreeing to count some ballots but excluding others. The central argument in Mr. Coleman's case is that the proceeding did not treat the ballots with the same standard of consistency.

"A vote that was counted in one jurisdiction was not counted in the neighboring jurisdiction. The trial court imposed a new and different set of rules in February so that instead of enfranchising the disenfranchised, they ignored the inconsistencies and flaws in the system," Mr. Ginsberg said.

"We asked the Minnesota Supreme Court to reinstate the Minnesota tradition of enfranchising voters and counting all of the valid votes," he said.

Mr. Franken's lawyers denied that variations in the standards used by different counties in counting the absentee ballots disenfranchised some voters - calling the differences "reasonable" and "minor."

In their brief, filed Monday, Mr. Franken's attorneys asked the high court to affirm the trial court's finding and order Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, and Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, a Democrat, to award him a certificate of election.

Mr. Coleman's brief Friday did not address whether the governor should issue a certificate of election after the high court rules. Democrats have pressed the governor to act even if Mr. Coleman pursues a challenge in federal courts.

Washington Times? Isn't that the Moonie newspaper?

[houndawg]

Could easily be, as I only got to read one story about the issue. But it still isn't going to keep me from speading lies and half truths about Franken

i didnt say the guy isn't a colossal douche-nozzle... i've met the man many times, we know each other fairly well... the guy is a complete prick... he's also the duly-elected junior senator from Minnesota.

Hell, bring him here and introduce him around, anybody that's a complete prick ought to fit right in.......besides, think how much he could learn from us.