Coleman wants 12,000 ballots reopened

ST. PAUL, Minn., Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Norm Coleman's campaign says it wants thousands of absentee Minnesota ballots to be counted in the ongoing recount of the U.S. Senate election.

Coleman, an incumbent Republican, held a slim enough lead to trigger an automatic recount in his Nov. 4 re-election bid against Democratic challenger Al Franken. Once the recount finished, Franken had a 225-vote lead.

Coleman has filed an election challenge after the statewide recount, disputing the results.

Fritz Knaak, Coleman's attorney, said the campaign will seek to open all 12,000 rejected ballots, The Hill reported. Among earlier arguments Coleman presented, though, were that some of the ballot were counted twice.

About 1,350 of the ballots were initially added to the totals, which swung the race in Franken's favor. Coleman's lawyers then unsuccessfully tried to get about 650 additional rejected absentee ballots included as well.

But on Monday, Knaak said Coleman's team wants all 12,000 rejected absentees.

"If the absentee voter was alive on Election Day, was either a registered voter or included a registration card with his or her ballot and did not otherwise vote, then his or her absentee ballot should be counted," Knaak said.

By law, Coleman's term expired earlier this month. Franken has gone to court to ask that the state to certify his win so that he can be seated provisionally in the Senate until the outcome is resolved.