Coleman side says it: ‘Set aside the election’

“Some courts have held that when the number of illegal votes exceeds the margin between the candidiates — and it cannot be determined for which candidate those illegal votes were cast — the most appropriate remedy is to set aside the election.”

Some citizens, like me, hold that when the number of illegal votes exceeds the margin between the candidates – and it cannot be determined for which candidates the illegal votes were cast – then the most appropriate remedy is to set aside the illegal votes. That is because they are illegal.

Hey, let’s just pretend that an election never happened!

Election? What election?

Vote early and vote often!

Minnesota law does not have a re-do clause. Norm’s only hope for a re-do is the US Senate, but by the time the case gets there, Norm will have lost at the Canvassing Board, lost the Election Contest, lost at the Minnesota Supreme Court and probably at one or 2 federal courts too. I doubt if the US Supreme Court will take the case. And Norm may well be in the middle of an ethics investigation at the time (Suitgate, Apartmentgate and/or Wifegate). Now – maybe all 41 Republican senators will decide that Norm is the best thing since Ronald Reagan and this is the cause of a lifetime and that they should filibuster till the bitter end – but I doubt it, and apparently, his staff doesn’t think so either since they have been scurrying down the hauser lines faster than you can say “Former Senator Coleman.”

Anyone pushing for another election has another question to answer: how do we know we won’t have another tie?

Also, though Coleman CLAIMS the number of illegal ballots exceeds the margin of victory, he hasn’t established that. Moreover, once the ballots the court allows get counted, it’s likely Franken’s lead will grow, making Coleman’s chore even harder. The best Coleman can get, other than a Senate Republican filibuster of seating Franken, is to get a court to accept that even if the election is fair, the perception something went wrong is reason enough to throw it out. That seems to be the reason they’ve put so much emphasis on the PR battle.

There’s no legal basis for this, of course, but isn’t it odd we haven’t seen a single poll on how this election would turn out if it were held today?

Do we still have a Minnesota Poll? Maybe Markos Moulitsas could spend some of his polling money checking this one out for us.

There was at least one poll that asked that question, way back in December.
http://minnesotaindependent.com/19368/survey-usa-kstp-poll-us-senate-election-if-held-today-still-deadlocked

Polls since then focused on the recount and election contest rather than a replay of the election.

where are we, Zimbabwe? if we don’t like the outcome of an election, we will use procedural gimmickry as long as possible and then we’ll call for a “do-over.” In the absence of a justiciable issue, the court should get out of the way and let the secretary of state certify the election.