Election Law @ Moritz

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Edward B. Foley
Free & Fair is a collection of writings by Edward B. Foley, one of the nation's preeminent experts on election law.

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What will happen to the 89 ballots whose envelopes contained valid registration forms?

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March 9, 2009

Officials found that 89 secrecy envelopes for ballots that were initially rejected for registration reasons actually contained valid registration forms.  Deficient forms were found in 72 of the envelopes and no form at all was found in the remainder of the 1600 envelopes that were checked.  The 89 ballots will not automatically be counted because the court has not yet ruled on their validity.  The Feb. 26 order requiring the envelopes to be opened and checked for registrations said that the ballots should be sorted into the three categories described above and securely stored to facilitate transport to a central location for review, “if the Court should so order.”  The 89 ballots came from 20 counties, 14 of which leaned toward Coleman and 6 of which leaned Franken.  See the breakdown in this Star Tribune article.  In other news, attorney Charles Nauen withdrew the petition of several Franken voters in Shad v. Ritchie.  The notice of withdrawal is not yet available online but the court accepted it and dismissed the petition with prejudice.