I am wondering if the people who are in charge in this mess is so incompatent that this kind of mess can happen, or are they just plain trying to steal the election foe Franken. I do know that all involved should be fired and somebody new come in to clear it up with a lot of oversight from the courts or somebody.
Coleman seizes on newfound ballots
His hopes are lifted as votes missed in recount turn up in Anoka County
By Jason Hoppin
jhoppin@pioneerpress.com
http://www.twincities.com/ci_11640761Smith, the top elections official in Anoka County, dropped a minor bombshell Thursday in the courtroom where a lawsuit over Minnesota's U.S. Senate race was being heard. She testified that the county has found — within the prior 24 hours — a dozen or more ballots that were never counted in the statewide recount that ended last month.
While the number is not enough to overcome Democrat Al Franken's 225-vote lead over former Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, it suggests there might be other uncounted ballots in other counties. Only a handful of elections officials have testified in the recount trial so far.
The news came just hours after Franken argued before the state Supreme Court that an election certificate should be issued allowing him to take his seat in Washington, D.C. Coleman, who attended the hearing, said the development was a sign his court challenge to overcome Franken's lead has a chance.
"The fact is, there is no question that the 225 number is an artificial number," Coleman said.
Smith, who was to resume her testimony this morning, said the ballots were found among the county's election materials Wednesday night and Thursday morning, partly in response to an official data request from Franken.
The discovery includes:
Three military ballots for Coleman from a Spring Lake Park precinct that were originally duplicated and misplaced before the recount. They were found in a large envelope containing discarded absentee-ballot return envelopes.
Six absentee ballots that were found inside their original return envelopes and have never been counted.
Several other ballots that were rejected for one reason or another, but that the county now says should be reconsidered.
"The finding of the ballots is just another demonstration of how illusory that count is," said Ben Ginsberg, an attorney for Coleman.
Attorneys for Franken did not comment after the hearing.
Also testifying Thursday was Pine County Auditor Cathy Clemmer. The Coleman campaign has pointed to 11 rejected ballots in that county that it says should be counted, out of as many as 4,800 statewide.
That was a sign the trial's pace could slow even more than the previous day, when Coleman's lawyers went through about 150 Washington County ballots it wants included. Lawyers had not begun entering Anoka County ballots into the record when court was recessed for the day.
Wrapping up testimony from the previous two days, Washington County Elections Manager Kevin Corbid did provide some of Thursday's more intriguing testimony.
Questioned by David Lillehaug, a Franken lawyer, Corbid said two representatives of the Coleman campaign showed up at his offices at 2 a.m. the day after the election, just as precinct materials were being delivered to his office and as the final state returns were coming in from northern Minnesota.
"I don't recall this ever happening, where a campaign would come to our offices," Corbid said.
It was widely reported that Coleman sent representatives to observe local elections offices, but the speed with which the two arrived in Washington County — Corbid said they identified themselves as being from the East Coast — was a surprise.
Corbid said the pair stationed themselves in the parking lot when he left the office at 5 a.m. Corbid also called the Washington County sheriff and asked that deputies make periodic checks on the men.
In another development Thursday, Lillehaug and Coleman attorney Joe Friedberg also clashed over Friedberg's attempt to enter a single ballot — cast for Franken, no less — into the record.
The absentee vote had been rejected for having a signature problem, but the voter submitted an affidavit saying the vote was indeed his. It effectively would have given the Democrat a 226-vote lead, but Friedberg said he intended to argue that all similar ballots should then be accepted.
Lillehaug rejected the attempt.
"What we just saw from Mr. Friedberg was grandstanding," Lillehaug said.
