Minnesota Senate Recount: Tales of a GOP Filibuster

It was reported that yesterday, legal representatives of the Minnesota Senate Republican incumbent, Norm Coleman, tried to put a halt to the recount of close to 1,000 improperly rejected absentee ballots. As CNN reported:

Democratic challenger Al Franken holds a lead of about 50 votes over Republican incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman, but this number does not reflect what could be more than a thousand improperly rejected absentee ballots still to be tallied.

So whats the deal? It was court ordered that if both local officials and each campaign could come to an agreement on the number of ballots that were rejected by mistake, that those "absentee ballots be counted." Local officials set the number at 1,350 mistakenly rejected absentee ballots and the Democratic candidate, Al Franken, concurs with that number. The Coleman campaign, however, does not and they want to add around 650 more to the mix of mistaken rejects. They firmly believe that there is a lacking of a standard in the review and counting of rejected absentee ballots. Therefore, the order of "agreement on the number" is still in the air because Franken's campaign will not agree to the additional ballot request by Coleman. Coleman's attorney, Tony Trimble, asked for a cease count only to have Deputy Secretary of State Jim Gelbmann with the verdict to:

"not slow down this process today, get the counting under way. ... We are relying on the oral advice of the attorney general."

The return decision made by Gelbmann and the Attorney General added more fuel to the recount fire as Coleman's attorney attempted to respond to the decision and was cut off by Gelbmann. However, due to the rules of public meetings, Trimble was given his say in a set time period of two minutes, where he objected to the decision but stated that the campaign would "reluctantly abide" by it. The court is still considering the request, however no hearing is set. Despite the pending recount results that are leaning towards Franken, Minnesota will most likely maintain an empty senate seat following Tuesday's swearing in as Republican Governor, Tim Pawlenty, must sign off on the election and cannot sign until all legal issues are resolved. Minnesota law states that both the Governor and Secretary of State are barred from making an election official until all legal proceedings are final. A statement made by Minnesota's other Senator, Democrat Amy Klobuchar, prompted some intense ire from the GOP when she was quoted as saying in a local news report that the Senate should "consider seating that person pending litigation." A statement that her spokesperson said was taken out of context. Regardless of the count results, if the Democratic leaders attempt to seat Fraken early, Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, John Cornyn stated that the GOP would filibuster the attempt regardless of his vote lead until the certificate is signed by Pawlenty. The bottom line is that an agreement on the number of mistakenly rejected absentee ballots seems impossible and the court will ultimately be the deciding factor in who wins the senate seat for Minnesota. Politics at its best.