Coleman's Contest Faces First Test

By: TJHalva | Comments [0] | Category: MN Recount | 1/21/2009 1:48:43 PM CT

Contrary to popular belief, Franken is not explicitly seeking to dismiss Coleman's election contest. Based upon the actual court filings (there are two), Franken appears to have an alternative motive. Franken has presented, along with a motion to dismiss the entire contest, three other arguments explicitly opposing Coleman's desire to re-review all 12,000 rejected absentee ballots. Franken's motion to dismiss the entire contest contains two arguments and is likely to fail:

[Note: The arguments appear to be misnumbered.]

ARGUMENT I:

THE COURT LACKS JURISDICTION TO HEAR COLEMAN'S CLAIMS BECAUSE THE NOTICE OF CONTEST FALLS OUTSIDE THE JURISDICTIONAL LIMITS SET BY MINN. STAT. § 209.12.

ARGUMENT III:

COLEMAN'S OPPOSITION ERASES ANY DOUBT AS TO THE INSUFFICIENCY OF HIS CLAIMS.

Source: MNCourts.org [PDF]

I'm not really going to go into detail about Franken's motion to dismiss the contest because there appear to be actual anomalies within the recount process. The very purpose of an election contest is to ensure that each and every stage of the counting process occurred lawfully. Any indication of malfeasance warrants an audience of the court. The actual purpose of Franken's motion appears to be information gathering; the last 12 pages of the motion contain documents from the Coleman campaign that were previously not available.

Franken's other motion regarding the 12,000 rejected absentee ballots, appears to be a valid attempt at preempting Coleman's already slim chances:

ARGUMENT I:

COLEMAN'S REQUEST FOR THE PRODUCTION OF 12,000 ABSENTEE BALLOTS MUST BE DENIED BECAUSE HIS VAGUE AND NON-SPECIFIED CLAIMS REGARDING THOSE BALLOTS LIE BEYOND THE JURISDICTION OF THIS COURT.

ARGUMENT II:

AT MOST, ONLY THE BALLOTS PREVIOUSLY IDENTIFIED BY COLEMAN AND THE ADDITIONAL BALLOTS IDENTIFIED BY FRANKEN ARE RELEVANT TO THIS COURT'S PROCEEDINGS.

ARGUMENT III:

TRANSPORT AND DEPOSIT OF 12,000 ORIGINAL BALLOTS IS UNNECESSARY AND WASTEFUL WHERE ALL NECESSARY INFORMATION IS GENERALLY ALREADY AVAILABLE TO THE PARTIES.

Source: MNCourts.org [PDF]

The court case proceedings will take place at 2:30 PM CT in Ramsey County. The events can be watched live at the Minnesota CBS affiliate WCCO.

Update [9:40 PM CT]: The three judge panel has taken the issue under advisement; a timetable for a decision was not provided. Barring this decision, the election contest proceedings will officially begin next Monday, January 26th.

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