25 seconds ago 2010-02-09T23:24:43-08:00
The Minnesota Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit from Sen. Norm Coleman's campaign requesting that over 600 rejected absentee ballots get included in the final count in the Minnesota Senate race. The court ruled that Coleman will have to deal with his dispute in a post-election contest.
The rejected absentee ballots primarily came from Republican-friendly precincts and were expected to benefit Coleman.
The court's decision ensures that the Canvassing Board will declare Democrat Al Franken the winner in the closely contested Minnesota Senate race this afternoon. Franken is leading Coleman by 225 votes, with over 2.9 million ballots cast in the election.
In a statement after the decision, Coleman's campaign announced it will be contesting Franken's apparent victory in a post-election challenge.
"Today’s ruling, which effectively disregards the votes of hundreds of Minnesotans, ensures that an election contest is now inevitable," Coleman attorney Fritz Knaak said in a statement. "The Coleman campaign has consistently and continually fought to have every validly cast vote counted, and for the integrity of Minnesota’s election system, we will not stop now."
Franken's campaign, meanwhile, is already declaring victory.
"Minnesotans have waited a long time for a winner to be declared in this race, and today, with the last attempt to halt the counting process now having failed, Al Franken will be declared the winner," said Franken attorney Marc Elias.
