U.S. Senate recount: What’s next?

Al Franken won the U.S. Senate contest by 225 votes. That was the determination that the five-member State Canvassing Board put their signatures to on Monday. Franken duly declared victory, pronouncing himself the “next senator from Minnesota.”

But as subsequent events have made abundantly clear that doesn’t mean the never-ending Senate contest is over. Indeed the legal contest filed by Norm Coleman’s campaign on Tuesday means it could still drag on for months. Here’s a quick primer on what will unfold in the coming weeks.

Chief Justice will recuse himself from Coleman contest

Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric Magnuson will recuse himself from participating in Norm Coleman’s legal contest of the U.S. Senate race, according to John Kostouros, Communications Director for the state’s Court Information Office. Under Minnesota law, the Chief…

Recount quote roundup: All nits have been picked, says chief justice and canvass board member

Here are three quotes from the last 24 hours on the Minnesota recount between Al Franken and former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman:
“Everything’s been looked at and looked at carefully,” is how Minnesota Supreme Court Justice and State Canvassing Board…

Supes ’n’ Dupes: Minnesota Supreme Court grills recount rivals on duplicate ballots

The Minnesota Supreme Court was visited by ghosts of Last Week Past on Tuesday afternoon as the two sides in the statewide Senate recount paid their second visit in five days. Attorneys for Democrat Al Franken and Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman who debated last Friday about wrongly rejected absentee ballots argued over different issue today: the Coleman camp’s request to stop the recount to determine whether votes on ballots that were damaged and then duplicated for counting purposes on Election Day were counted twice during the recount.

U.S. Senate recount: canvassing board rebuffs Coleman campaign

Sen. Norm Coleman’s campaign argued this morning that the state canvassing board should reconsider decisions on at least 16 ballots that it believes were awarded to the wrong candidate in the U.S. Senate contest. The five-member panel agreed to examine the ballots in question, but ultimately decided that their initial determinations on the vote allocations would stand.

Who’s on first? With recount’s Andersons and Magnusons, it’s ‘Who’s on the bench?’

You can’t tell the players in the Minnesota Senate recount drama with a scorecard — even a Politico blog that’s called The Scoreboard misattributed a quote (since corrected) on Monday from Marc Elias, a lawyer for Al Franken, as coming from Fritz Knaak, U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman’s recount attorney. Minnesota media mostly keep those two straight, but even locals find the profusion of Scandinavian surnames in the various recount venues vexing. More including the Anderson Effect and a Sven-and-Ole routine, after the jump.

Supreme Court orders wrongly rejected ballots counted — but only if Franken and Coleman camps agree

A divided Minnesota Supreme Court ruled today that wrongly rejected absentee ballots should be counted in the U.S. Senate race. But the process ordered by the three-justice majority mandates that both campaigns must agree that a ballot was improperly invalidated if it is to be included in the final tally. The opinion was authored by Helen Meyer, with fellow justices Lorie Skjerven Gildea and Christopher Dietzen joining her in the majority. Justices Alan Page and Paul Anderson wrote strongly worded dissents, arguing that the ruling is inconsistent and inadequate for ensuring that every properly cast vote is counted.

U.S. Senate recount: The end is in sight (maybe)

The final step in the statewide manual recount of the U.S. Senate race is underway. Shortly after noon, the five-member canvassing board began examining the roughly 1,500 ballots that have been challenged by the campaigns of Sen. Norm Coleman and Al Franken.

Supreme Court justices Magnuson and Anderson will not participate in recount case

Minnesota Supreme Court justices Eric Magnuson and G. Barry Anderson will not participate in a case involving the U.S. Senate race currently before the state’s top court. The last sentence of an order issued yesterday by the Supreme Court subtly announced this decision: “Magnuson, C.J., and Anderson, G. Barry, J., took no part in the consideration or decision of this matter.”

‘Muddle’ and ‘Doubt’: The recount in the Star Tribune’s weekend headlines

Democrat Al Franken may have “won” in a pair of decisions Friday by the Minnesota State Canvassing Board, which unanimously agreed to count 133 lost ballots in Minneapolis and to ask counties statewide to look for wrongly rejected absentee…