Coleman seeks to widen ballot scrutiny

ST. PAUL, Minn., Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Incumbent Republican Norm Coleman is seeking hundreds of thousands of documents to contest his U.S. Senate election recount loss in Minnesota, officials say.

Coleman's attorneys are using much broader tactics to unearth disputed ballots than seen previously as they battled Democratic challenger Al Franken during a state Canvassing Board recount of the Nov. 4 contest.

Coleman had led Franken by 215 votes in the initial count after the election but Franken had pulled ahead by 225 votes by the end of the recount, The Star Tribune newspaper in Minneapolis reported Sunday. Neither has been seated and the matter could drag on for months.

Coleman's latest requests pertain to approved, rather than disputed, absentee ballots and signatures on precinct voter rosters. Their breadth are frustrating some Minnesota county election officials, the newspaper reported.

"You're talking 30,000, 40,000 pages of documents," said Stearns County, elections chief Dave Walz.

Joe Mansky, Ramsey County's election director, added he had received requests for copies of "over 200,000 pieces of paper."

Coleman attorney Fritz Knaak told the Star Tribune, "Anecdotally and otherwise, we have what we consider to be a reasonable basis, a very reasonable basis, to proceed with this on the expectation that we will see more votes."