Posted: November 13, 2008

MN: Franken Sues for Lists of Absentee Voters

The Franken campaign has sued Ramsey County (St. Paul) to obtain a list of all voters who had cast absentee ballots that were not counted.  Both Ramsey and Hennepin (Minneapolis) Counties had refused to give the Franken campaign such lists, but at this point it appears only Ramsey has been sued.  This article suggests that, if they obtain access to this information, both parties might begin personally contacting voters to attempt to get their votes counted.  A trial court judge has already denied a request from the Franken campaign to force Hennepin officials to count 461 absentee ballots that had been set aside and not counted due to allegedly non-matching signatures.  Note that Secretary Ritchie has previously indicated that the state canvassing board would not reconsider rejected absentee ballots as part of the impending recount.  Moritz is obtaining documents.  Update:  The new Franken suit comes after officials found that the ballot signature of a nursing home resident who had had a stroke did not match the signature officials had on file.  The woman says the stroke made it difficult for her to sign her name the same way she had in the past.  The cited article explains that some counties have complied with Franken's request for the names of absentee voters, and Franken hopes the lawsuit in Ramsey County will, if successful, cause other counties to follow suit.