Quarter Of All Ballots Tallied On First Day Of Minnesota Recount

November 20, 2008 11:15 a.m. EST

St. Paul, MN (AHN) - Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidate Al Franken won his fight over rejected absentee ballots in Ramsey County on Wednesday, the same day Minnesota finished recounting a quarter of all 2.9 million votes cast in the race between Franken and Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN).

Ramsey County District Court Judge Dale Lindman ruled in favor of the Democrat and said data about the absentee ballots should be released immediately by election officials. "With each passing hour, the Franken campaign is irreparably harmed in its efforts to ensure that each valid vote is properly counted and to prepare for the procedures that will decide this election," the judge said in his ruling.

Last Thursday, Franken filed a lawsuit seeking information about rejected absentee ballots in Ramsey County. His campaign said in a statement that it was not seeking to have the ballots counted and that it simply wants to find out what absentee ballots were rejected. The campaign added that a ballot in Beltrami County was wrongly rejected after the signature of a voter who had suffered a stroke did not match with the one on record.

Franken, who trails Coleman by only 215 votes, is fighting for rejected absentee ballots statewide. He filed a brief on Monday asking the state canvassing board to examine rejected ballots and "include legally-cast votes in the tally." The board said the next day it would meet next week to decide on the brief.

Coleman had expressed concerns about private information being used by Franken to "harass" voters through visits by the campaign or Democratic operatives to their homes. The first-term senator said on Wednesday, "This ruling has no bearing on the fundamental reality that we are now actively engaged in a recount. While we will receive the same information from counties that the Franken Campaign requests, we hope that the Franken campaign will treat absentee voters with more respect than we have seen so far."

Minnesota finished recounting 15.49 percent of all votes on Wednesday, the first day of the recount. A total of 221 ballots have been challenged, with 106 questioned by Franken and 115 by Coleman.

Election officials hope to finish the recount, which will cost the state about $90,000, by Dec. 5. The review of questioned ballots will begin on Dec. 16.

The contest in Minnesota one of two remaining Senate races which have yet to be called, with the other being in Georgia where a runoff is scheduled for next month. Democrats need victories in both races to gain a 60-vote majority in the Senate that will let them block Republican filibusters.