ST. PAUL, Minn. - Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken has told a Minnesota court he would agree to the opening and possible counting of almost 1,600 still-sealed absentee ballots.
Franken suggests review of 1,585 absentee ballots
February 22, 2009 at 3:16AM
In a Saturday filing, Franken's lawyers submitted a list of absentee voters whose rejected ballots they want to give another look. About half the voter names also appear on a longer list compiled by Republican Norm Coleman. The rest are distinct from the Coleman roster.
Coleman is suing to overturn the results of a statewide recount that had Franken ahead by 225 votes. He has argued that thousands of absentee ballots were wrongly rejected by poll workers and should count.
Coleman campaign spokesman Mark Drake said Franken's list is weighted toward ballots that favor him. "The time has come for all the valid votes of Minnesotans to count, not just the ones that favor one candidate over another," Drake said.
A three-judge panel that has heard four weeks of testimony in Coleman's lawsuit will ultimately decide which ballots get counted. The case resumes Monday.
