Posted in From Al's Desk, Press Releases on January 5th, 2009
“It has been a remarkable couple of months. Our recount brought national attention to Minnesota, and what Americans saw is that we take our democracy seriously. Our recount process was long, it was fair, and it was thorough. We should all be proud of our state, and we should all be grateful for the incredible hard work and dedication of all of our elections officials, from the state canvassing board and the Secretary of State’s office to the officials in the cities and counties and precincts of Minnesota.
“After 62 days, after the careful and painstaking hand inspection of nearly 3 million ballots, after hours and hours of hard work by elections officials and volunteers across the state, I am proud and humbled to stand before you as the next Senator from Minnesota.
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Posted in Press Releases on January 2nd, 2009
TOMORROW: WRONGLY REJECTED ABSENTEE BALLOTS TO BE COUNTED IN ADVANCE OF MONDAY’S ANNOUNCEMENT
Despite nonstop efforts by the Coleman campaign to derail the counting process, absentee ballots judged to have been improperly rejected will be counted by a state elections official beginning tomorrow morning, with the counting to be completed in time for Monday’s important state canvassing board meeting, at which the final Coleman-Franken vote will be announced.
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Posted in Blog on December 31st, 2008
FRANKEN HOLDING LEAD
Yesterday, the state canvassing board unanimously approved a spreadsheet reflecting the final disposition of nearly 3 million votes cast in the U.S. Senate race. With all challenges reviewed and all ballots allocated, Al Franken leads Norm Coleman by 49 votes. A winner is expected to be declared next week after improperly rejected absentee ballots have been included in the count.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gMpTmr96V5hKIfyHT4Av4jsVQgrQD95DCH680
http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/36877849.html
More after the jump…
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Posted in Blog on December 30th, 2008
TODAY: CANVASSING BOARD APPROVES FINAL BALLOT REVIEW – FRANKEN HOLDS 50 VOTE LEAD
Today, the state canvassing board unanimously approved a spreadsheet reflecting the final disposition of nearly 3 million votes cast in the U.S. Senate race. With all challenges reviewed and all ballots allocated, Al Franken leads Norm Coleman by 50 votes. A winner is expected to be declared next week after improperly rejected absentee ballots have been included in the count.
http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/36880254.html
http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_11336331
More after the jump…
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Posted in From Al's Desk, Press Releases on December 30th, 2008
SAINT PAUL [12/30/08] – Al Franken:
“Today, the state canvassing board completed an important step in this process. I’m glad to be ahead, and as it appears that we’re on track to win, I want Minnesotans to know that I’m ready to get to work for them in Washington on Day One. We still need to ensure that Minnesotans whose absentee ballots were improperly rejected aren’t disenfranchised, but we are close to the finish line. And we should all be proud of our state’s electoral process, and grateful for the dedication of our public servants, from the state canvassing board down to elections officials at the local level.”
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Posted in Blog on December 29th, 2008
TOMORROW: CANVASS BOARD TO COMPLETE CHALLENGED BALLOTS REVIEW – FRANKEN CAMPAIGN PROJECTS 35-50 VOTE LEAD
Tomorrow morning, the State Canvassing Board completes an important step in this recount process: the board will wrap up its challenge review process. Currently, Al Franken leads Norm Coleman by 46 votes. We expect that when the few remaining corrections are made and the result is finalized at tomorrow’s meeting, Franken’s lead will be between 35 and 50 votes. To be ahead at this point in the process bolsters what we have said all along: that once all the votes are counted Al Franken will be the next Senator from Minnesota. Today we are more confident than ever that Al Franken will be the winner of this election. After tomorrow morning’s results are announced, the only remaining issue to be resolved will be improperly rejected absentee ballots–which the Minnesota State Supreme Court has previously ruled should be included in any final count.
http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/
More after the jump…
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Posted in Blog on December 22nd, 2008
CANVASS BOARD TO COMPLETE CHALLENGE REVIEW TOMORROW – FRANKEN CAMPAIGN PROJECTS 35-50 VOTE LEAD
Tomorrow morning, the State Canvass Board completes an important step in this recount process: the board will wrap up its challenge review process. At that time, the Franken campaign expects that Al Franken will lead Norm Coleman by between 35 and 50 votes, meaning we will be on track to win the election. To be ahead at this point in the process bolsters what we have said all along: that once all the votes are counted Al Franken will be the next Senator from Minnesota. Today we are more confident than ever that Al Franken will be the winner of this election. After tomorrow morning’s results are announced, the only remaining issue to be resolved will be improperly rejected absentee ballots – which the Minnesota State Supreme Court has previously ruled should be included in any final count.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/12/20/franken-team-expects-a-win-of-35-50-votes/
http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/1208/Franken_expects_to_defeat_Coleman_by_3550_votes.html
More after the jump…
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Posted in Blog on December 19th, 2008
STATE CANVASSING BOARD COMPLETES CHALLENGE REVIEW; FRANKEN HOLDS LEAD
The state canvassing board has finished its review of ballot challenges, and we are more confident than ever that more people voted for Al Franken than voted for Norm Coleman last month. The last remaining step in this phase of the process will be the reconciliation of withdrawn challenges, which will take place on Monday. Because the Coleman campaign issued far more frivolous challenges, the Franken campaign expects that Coleman will gain net votes during that step, but not enough to overcome Franken’s lead. Franken attorney Marc Elias announced at the conclusion of today’s proceedings that he believed Franken would ultimately be declared the winner. The bottom line is: we went into the challenge review process up by 4 votes, and we saw that margin increased significantly over the last four days.
More after the jump…
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Posted in Press Releases on December 19th, 2008
SAINT PAUL [12/19/08] – Communications director Andy Barr:
“This is just the latest desperate act by a campaign panicked because it has suddenly realized that it is going to lose the election. The two campaigns and the Secretary of State agreed on a deal at the insistence of the Coleman campaign. The Coleman campaign then used that deal to prevent us from making challenges in counties across the state. And now that they realize they are going to lose, they are once again running to court to try to change the rules and disenfranchise hundreds of voters based on a theory they invented and cannot support with any real evidence.”
FLASHBACK: Email from Coleman attorney Tony Trimble (11/19):
“We believe that duplicate ballots should be counted if no corresponding original can be found, as this was a ballot cast on election night. A challenge to a duplicate ballot for which no original can be found is a frivolous challenge, because it does not relate to voter intent. Any challenge to a duplicate ballot should be made within an election contest and is not within the limited jurisdiction of an administrative recount. We will request the Minnesota State Canvassing Board to reject any challenges to duplicate ballots as groundless and frivolous (if the same are brought to the Canvassing Board).”
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Posted in Blog on December 18th, 2008
NEW FRANKEN BRIEF: COLEMAN REVERSING POSITION ON “DUPLICATE BALLOT” ISSUE
The Franken campaign today filed a supplemental brief with the state canvassing board exposing that the Coleman campaign, contrary to its last-minute desperate attempt to change the rules of the recount, previously argued that original ballots should be counted even when no corresponding duplicate ballot can be located. The brief includes emails from Coleman attorney Tony Trimble to the Secretary of State’s office.
Download the brief here:
http://www.alfranken.com/page/-/docs/recount/20081218_DuplicateBrief2.pdf
Download the emails from the Coleman attorneys here:
http://www.alfranken.com/page/-/docs/recount/20081218_DuplicateExhibits.pdf
Full update after the jump…
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