Coleman, Franken lawyers argue in court

ST. PAUL, Minn., Jan. 26 (UPI) -- Lawyers for the men hoping to become Minnesota's U.S. senator presented opposing arguments Monday before a three-judge panel convened to hear the matter.

Republican Norm Coleman's attorney called for more absentee ballots to be counted while attorneys for Democrat Al Franken said the work of election and recount officials should be respected, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis reported.

The trial being heard in St. Paul will resolve the election challenge Coleman brought to certified recount results showing Franken had a 225-vote lead. When the recount began in November, Coleman had a 215-vote edge.

"If possible, every vote should be counted and nobody's vote should be counted more than once," Coleman's attorney, Joe Friedberg, told the panel.

Friedberg said the Coleman campaign will ask the three-judge court to examine approximately 5,000 rejected absentee ballots and ask the panel to weigh them against nearly 1,000 ballots that were ultimately accepted by local officials around the state. Friedberg called for a ballot-by-ballot review of the 5,000 disputed ballots.

The court shouldn't require election results to be perfect, Franken attorney Kevin Hamilton said, adding that Coleman has not met the burden of showing that serious errors affected the outcome of the election.

"That's a heavy and demanding burden. No election is perfect," Hamilton said. "Minnesota's election system is a model for the nation but it's not immune. ... Showing an error or even multiple errors is by itself not sufficient."

The trial is expected to last from several weeks to several months, the Tribune said.

Franken, meanwhile, sued to dispute the state officials' decision not to certify -- at least provisionally -- his election. The state Supreme Court is scheduled to hear that case in early February.