Election judge's absentee ballot tossed

DULUTH, Minn., Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Election judge Shirley Graham said she was surprised to learn her absentee ballot was blocked from being added to the U.S. Senate recount in Minnesota.

A lawyer from incumbent Republican Sen. Norm Coleman blocked her ballot because the date next to her signature didn't match the date next to the signature of her witness, the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune reported.

"I'm an election judge," said Graham, of Duluth. "I expected to be the last person whose ballot wouldn't be counted."

What's flustering, she said, is that her witness "actually said, 'Shirley, this date has to be the same.' I don't understand how it could be different."

Graham said she votes absentee since she works every Election Day in a nearby precinct.

"I want to see my ballot," Graham said when she learned her ballot was rejected, reconsidered and re-rejected. She said she may consider going to court to get her vote counted in the race between Coleman and Democrat Al Franken.

There's an irony about Coleman's camp rejecting her ballot, the newspaper said.

She voted for him.