Two-Front War in Minnesota Recount
In the Minnesota recount, hope and fiction are battling it out in court and on the airwaves, according to our colleagues at Minnesota Independent.
A judge ruled that election officials in Ramsey County, which covers the city of St. Paul have to make public information about rejected absentee ballots, as requested by lawyers for Democratic challenger Al Franken. But MnIndy’s Paul Demko notes that the Franken campaign:
“„“faces an uphill battle in convincing the statewide canvassing board to examine the purged ballots. In a ruling issued yesterday, the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office indicated that it believes those ballots should not be considered in the statewide manual recount that got underway this morning.
On Fox News yesterday Rep. Michele Bachmann yesterday recycled two stories that have already been debunked. One held that 32 absentee ballots were left in the car of MInneapolis election director Cindy Reichert’s car.
“„Reichert says it never happened, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie swears the same, and even Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty acknowledges there’s no evidence of wrongdoing in the way ballots were processed.
Bachman also said that all 32 of the ballots went to Franken. In fact, the ballots were held in a secure place before counting and 16 of them went for Franken. The rest were split between Coleman and Independent Party candidate Dean Barkely.
A judge in St. Paul agreed to a request from a lawyer for Democratic challenger Al Franken
