Franken to Supreme Court: Don’t stop the count

In a court filing today, the Al Franken for Senate campaign asked the Minnesota Supreme Court not to stop the counting of 953 absentee ballots that is under way in St. Paul, as Norm Coleman’s campaign demanded in a New Year’s Eve lawsuit. As instructed by a Dec. 18 order from the Supreme Court, Franken’s filing says, the parties agreed on a process for identifying absentee ballots that local officials had mistakenly rejected and that by consensus of all sides — the campaigns included — should now be counted.

The Democratic challenger’s filing continues:

That process has been followed in good faith by local election officials throughout the state, working long hours over the holiday season under extraordinarily tight deadlines at significant expense, and it is nearly complete. Now in this, their third “emergency” application to this Court in as many weeks, [Coleman and his lawyers] ask this Court to intervene to delay the conclusion of the recount and canvass, which is now only three days from completion, and to start all over again. There is no good reason to do so.

The Supreme Court also asked seven Minnesota counties included in Coleman’s lawsuit to tell the court whether they had reviewed ballot envelopes that the outgoing Republican incumbent had proposed for inclusion after the agreed-upon deadline. Those responses are available, along with all other filings in the various cases that have come before the Supreme Court, at this Web page.