Posted: February 11, 2009

Dakota County official still on stand in Minnesota contest

Dakota County Election Director Kevin Boyle is still on the stand today. Over the last few days, he has testified that there are still ballots that were improperly rejected and should probably now be counted. These include ballots on which election judges did not write a reason for rejection and ballots that judges originally thought contained signatures that didn’t match the signatures on the ballot applications. Yesterday’s Star Tribune coverage discusses this issue here. Coleman’s attorney calculates that at least 80 ballots from Dakota County should now be opened and counted as a result of Boyle’s testimony. Today, Franken’s attorney questioned Boyle about ballots that the Coleman campaign vetoed during the ballot review process ordered by the Minnesota Supreme Court. Coleman has a website listing the names of voters that he claims Franken wants to disenfranchise. But Franken’s attorney pointed out in court the names of 10 voters whose ballots Coleman himself objected to counting. See the story here. Franken’s attorney also questioned Boyle about whether Minnesota law provides that voters’ errors may be excused by election officials’ errors. Boyle answered that he does not think official error excuses voter error. Minnesota rules do require that election officials check that envelopes are sealed and that certificates are properly completed when voters return absentee ballots in person as the 3-judge panel noted in its order yesterday. Order on motion for summary judgment, Feb. 10, 2009 (citing Minn. R. 8210.2200, subp.2).