Dale Lindman

Tomorrow morning the state canvassing board will decide the fate of absentee ballots that were rejected by local election officials. Al Franken’s campaign believes that information about those ballots should be scrutinized to determine if they were properly invalidated. Norm Coleman’s campaign has argued that inspecting such ballots is outside the purview of the statewide recount currently underway. Whatever the outcome of the canvassing board hearing tomorrow, it seems likely that the fate of the rejected absentee ballots will ultimately be settled in court.

The fight over the closest Senate contest in Minnesota history turned to the Ramsey County Courthouse this morning. In a hearing before Judge Dale Lindman, Al Franken’s campaign argued that Ramsey County election officials should be required to turn over information about rejected absentee ballots. Attorney David Lillehaug made the case that the names of all voters who had their ballots invalidated, along with the reason for that decision, should be provided. “That information is critical to the plaintiff,” he stated