Norm Coleman has run out of opportunities. It's time for ex-Senator Horse Teeth to gracefully bow out and congratulate Sentor Al Franken!
The problem now for Coleman is that an election contest proceeding places the burden of proof on the losing candidate who is now challenging the outcome.
Lead Franken attorney Marc Elias has released this statement:
"Today, the Supreme Court once again affirmed the validity of the rules under which this recount was conducted. Minnesotans have waited a long time for a winner to be declared in this race, and today, with the last attempt to halt the counting process now having failed, Al Franken will be declared the winner."
...it's official!
The Minnesota state canvassing board has officially certified the election results showing that Al Franken is the winner of the Minnesota recount -- by a nose. And it is far from over.
The numbers: Franken at 1,212,431 votes, Coleman at 1,212,206 votes. Including the large number of votes for third-party candidates, this is a margin of 0.0077% out of over 2.9 million votes cast.
http://www.startribune.com/...
State Supreme Court rejects crucial Coleman lawsuit...
The Minnesota Supreme Court has rejected a lawsuit crucial to Sen. Norm Coleman’s (R) reelection fortunes, clearing a path for the Board of Canvassers to certify Al Franken (D) as the state’s next senator.
Mirroring its reasoning in a previous decision that rejected a Coleman suit on so-called “duplicate” ballots, the court said that Coleman’s bid to include an additional 650 absentee ballots in the contested Senate race was an issue best suited for the Board of Canvassers.
The ruling disarms Coleman of one of his last major opportunities to overcome the 225-vote lead held by Franken after the inclusion of hundreds of absentee ballots disqualified for no legal reason.
The board is expected to certify the 225-vote tally Monday, though Coleman’s campaign has vowed to file an election challenge based on claims about duplicate ballots and the additional absentee ballots Coleman wanted to have counted.
Spokesmen for the Franken and Coleman campaigns did not immediately respond to e-mails seeking comment following the ruling.
http://thehill.com/...
It is now time for Senator John Cornyn (R- Obstructionist, Texas) to grow up and stop acting like the ass he is...seat Al Franken!
From TPM:
The court's ruling upheld the local officials, and told Coleman in no uncertain terms that if he wants to continue to fight this one out, it will have to be in a post-recount election contest:
The record before us with respect to petitioners' motion demonstrates that local election officials have acted diligently and in accordance with our orders, and together with the candidates have agreed upon more than 900 rejected absentee ballots, which have now been opened and counted by the Secretary of State's office.
...
Because the parties and the respective counties have not agreed as to any of these additional ballots, the merits of this dispute (and any other disputes with respect to absentee ballots) are the proper subjects of an election contest under Minn. Stat. ch. 209
.
PDF of ruling:
http://www.mncourts.gov/...