Posted: November 21, 2008

Some Minnesota absentee voters learning of ballot rejection

The Franken campaign is seeking to have rejected absentee ballots reviewed by the State Canvassing Board. He won a case against Ramsey County officials granting him access to the names of voters whose ballots were rejected and why. The campaign has begun contacting these voters many of whom were not aware their ballot had been rejected. See the report here. Ramsey County officials rejected approximately 800 absentee ballots. One quarter of these were rejected because the person was not registered. Others were rejected for having no witness or no signature. Others were rejected because voters filled out materials incorrectly or were sent the wrong materials by election officials. One woman’s ballot was rejected because she did not indicate her reason for needing to vote absentee. One Coleman supporter knowingly voted twice; he was not surprised when his absentee ballot was rejected because he voted on election day. He said he wanted to be sure his vote would count. A Minneapolis college student attending school in Seattle has sued over the rejection of her absentee ballot. She voted absentee (for Franken) but received a letter Nov. 3 saying her ballot had been rejected because she wasn’t registered to vote. She had received a post card, dated Oct. 30, indicating she was registered. See the report here. 

Update - 1:09PM: This post orginally stated that Minnesotans must appear in person to take advantage of election day registration but there is actually a method available for mailing in a voter registration form with an absentee ballot.  MR 8210.0500.