Franken camp benefits from two key rulings RAW STORY

Published: Friday December 12, 2008





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Democrats have no chance to hit the "magic 60" number in the Senate anymore but they still can possibly edge a little closer.



"Al Frankens campaign won two key rulings today that may help him overcome a tiny deficit against Sen. Norm Coleman in the Minnesota Senate recount," Ben Smith observes at Politico.



The Pioneer Press reports, "The state Canvassing Board has voted to count 133 missing ballots from a Dinkytown precinct, despite the objections of Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman."



The article continues, "Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson told the board this morning that the ballots could be included, the second big victory for Democratic challenger Al Franken in his effort to unseat Coleman. 'I believe there is authority ... to include the election night returns,' Swanson said. The board seemed more than willing to accept the results, despite a 2002 case cited by Coleman where a court threw out 17 ballots that were tossed in a fireplace during a statewide recount."



"A separate but crucial opinion from Swanson's office says improperly rejected absentee ballots can be counted as part of a statewide recount," the Pioneer Press adds. "There are 638 of those ballots thus far identified by local elections officials in 49 of Minnesota's 87 counties."



One Minnesota official believes that the number could of such ballots could more than double, since they only examined 4,823 rejected absentee ballots.



"Deputy Secretary of State Jim Gelbmann...reported that if that trend holds -- with more than 13 percent of the rejected absentee ballots tossed improperly -- there would end up being nearly 1,600 wrongfully set aside," the Star Tribune reports.











