Posted: April 13, 2009

3-Judge Court Issues Final Ruling for Franken

See the order here.  The final vote total has Franken ahead by 312 votes.  As to the 132 missing ballots, the court found that there was no evidence of fraud and no evidence that the election night numbers from the voting machines were unreliable.  As to the allegations of double-counting, the court concluded that Coleman is barred from asserting that recount Rule 9 (providing for the counting of original rather than duplicate ballots during the recount) violates Minnesota law by the doctrines of laches and judicial estoppel.  Finally, the court concluded that Coleman's claim that the counting process in this election violated equal protection of the laws as guaranteed by the U.S and Minnestoa constitutions fails on the merits.  Specifically, the court mentioned that Minnesota law does not provide for the remedy of opening ballots that do not meet the strict statutory requirements simply because others like them were opened and counted.  See the Star Tribune coverage here.  The Pioneer Press also has an excellent piece here and a timeline of recount and contest events here.