| | Coleman campaign rejects election judge's ballot
 With Al Franken holding onto a 49-vote lead in the Minnesota Senate recount, incumbent Republican Norm Coleman seems to be pulling out the stops in his attempt to keep as many likely Democratic absentee ballots as possible out of the tally.
Election officials across the state are determining which absentee ballots were rejected improperly on Election Day, and both campaigns have to agree before a previously rejected ballot is counted. As the Star Tribune reports, Coleman rejected 59 of 60 ballots that were set aside in St. Louis County, which supported Franken. His decision to reject Shirly Graham's ballot was particularly shocking.
"I'm an election judge," Graham told the paper. "I expected to be the last person whose ballot wouldn't be counted."
Graham, who actually voted for Coleman, said she would consider going to court to have her ballot included. Coleman's campaign argued that the ballot was invalid because the date next to Graham's signature did not match the date next to the witness who also signed the ballot.
As Nate Silver notes, the ballot decision may demonstrate that Franken's campaign should perhaps be concerned about the events in St. Louis County.
There are a couple of things in the preceding paragraphs that the Franken campaign ought to be worried about. Firstly, quite a high percentage of absentee ballots were rejected -- 60 out of what had been reported yesterday to be 161 ballots under consideration in St. Louis County, or 37 percent. All but one of those objections were made by the Coleman campaign. Secondly, the Coleman campaign is getting away with blocking ballots for asinine reasons. In the case cited above, for instance, the ballot was rejected because the date provided by the voucher did not match the date the date provided by the voter. Not only is there no requirement that the dates of the signatures match -- there is no requirement that the signatures are dated, period (see the applicable statutes for yourself here and here). Silver notes that Coleman's heavy challenges came in "one of the bluest areas of Minnesota" and suggests that Franken could counter the strategy with heavy rejections in red counties. Indeed, Coleman has been trying to skew his advantage, requesting the inclusion of 650 additional ballots from heavily red counties.
The recount and ensuing legal battles are expected to continue into the new year, but there has been discussion of seating Franken on at least a provisional basis when the 111th Congress is sworn in next week.
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