Jun 07 2009
Coleman Appeals to Minnesota Supreme Court
When I’m not sure what to write here, I check on the saga of Minnesota’s U.S. Senate election and I have a topic. The Minnesota Supreme Court heard arguments from lawyers representing Norm Coleman and Al Franken.
Judicial pundits say that, although Coleman has some reasonable points to make about inconsistencies with the way counties count ballots, there simply isn’t enough evidence to show the ballots the former senator wants tallied would overcome the 300-vote deficit that was certified by a three-judge panel in April. Coleman is trying to get 4,000 disqualified ballots counted.
The problem is systemic. There isn’t reason to hire lots of election workers and keep them on the public payroll full-time when there might be two elections per year, combining all levels of government. Law professors think Coleman’s issues should be raised by the legislature before the next election rather than handled by the courts after the previous one.
That said, the people who volunteer to work at polling places or a local registrar’s office are the ones who are available, not necessarily the ones we’d choose to put in those important positions. Every election has judgments similar to the ones made in counties throughout Minnesota. The same thing happened in Florida in 2000.
When an election is close, this is what happens. No one has yet devised a better system. I used to think the Internet was the key to election salvation but I’ve been convinced that, at least for now, voting online isn’t immune to fraud.
