Canvassing Board lets original ballot judgments stand, campaigns keep fighting for votes

The state Canvassing Board decided not to reconsider their original judgment on 16 ballots today after Norm Coleman's campaign claimed they were inconsistent with other judgments ruling in Al Franken's favor. The board retrieved the votes for a second look, but decided not to rule on them again.

More from Minnesota Independent:

"I understand why these were challenged; these were very close calls," acknowledged Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric Magnuson, a member of the canvassing board. "I saw nothing in any of those that gave me cause to change my vote."

"Obviously we're a little disappointed with what we saw in there," said Coleman attorney Fritz Knaak, following the board's hearing. "We respectfully disagree with some of what the board did." But Knaak expressed optimism that Coleman will ultimately prevail in the contest. "We see the number as much better from our point of view," he said, but declined to provide any specifics. "Our internal count is something that we don't share."

In other campaign issues, the campaigns along with the Secretary of State are set to ask the Minnesota Supreme Court today to allow them to review wrongfully rejected absentee ballots on Jan. 2, the Pioneer Press says. Happy New Year, Minnesota!

More from the PiPress:

The ballots should be opened and judged at the state level, rather than the county level as the court originally ordered last week, in order to protect the privacy of the absentee voters.

But either campaign has veto power over defining which ballots would be considered mistakenly rejected and therefore sent to the state. The campaigns will veto ballots before Jan. 2.

The state Canvassing Board is set to meet again Dec. 30th, Jan. 5th, and Jan. 6th. Their last meeting is the same day the new Senate convenes in Washington, D.C. Sorry, D.C. folks, you'll be waiting for awhile before our second senator shows up.