Capitol View®

Reporting on State Politics and Government

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters today that Republicans will filibuster any attempt by Democrats to seat a Senator from Minnesota before the recount and any legal challenges are resolved. Here’s the audio from his conference call:
Today is the deadline for counties to submit wrongly-rejected absentee ballot to the Secretary of State. The Coleman campaign is again asking the MN Supreme Court to intervene. MPR, Star Tribune and Kare11 Voters whose ballots are rejected might not receive notice until it’s too late. Secretary of State Mark Ritchie talks to ABC News…
Republican Sen. Norm Coleman’s campaign sent a letter today to Secretary of State Mark Ritchie’s office and Democrat Al Franken’s campaign ripping the process currently underway to identify wrongly rejected absentee ballots. Coleman attorney Tony Trimble writes the process is not working and will result in “an invalid and unreliable election result” unless it’s changed.…
Democrat Al Franken is now 49 votes ahead in the recount with wrongly-rejected absentee ballots still to be counted. MPR, AP, NY Times, CNN, Star Tribune and PiPress have stories. Republican Norm Coleman’s lawyers call the lead “artificial.” An election judge in Duluth is surprised to learn her absentee ballot was rejected. State Government Some…
Recount The State Canvassing Board reconvenes today to take up the issue of wrongly-rejected absentee ballots. You can watch streaming video of the meeting via theuptake.org. There are also meetings underway across the state to determine which absentee ballots should be sent along to the Secretary of State. The Coleman and Franken campaigns are told…
Jim Manley, the spokesman for Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, released this statement regarding the Senate race: “At this stage, it appears that Franken will be certified the winner by the State Canvassing Board. We’re keeping abreast of the situation and will make a decision with regard to Senate action at the appropriate point…
Local election officials have until this Friday to deliver 1,350 wrongly-rejected absentee ballots to the Secretary of State’s office. The Secretary of State has until January 4 to count these ballots, but it is possible we still won’t have a Senator on January 6, when the other freshman Senators are sworn in. If the results…
Coleman campaign attorney Fritz Knaak said he was deeply disappointed with the decision by the Minnesota Supreme Court. He said the decision “virtually guarantees that this will be decided in an election contest.” He added that a certificate of election will not be filed until the contest phase is settled and “it’s highly unlikely that…
The Minnesota Supreme Court has just denied GOP Sen. Norm Coleman’s petition to investigate whether double counting occurred in the recount. Here’s the reaction from Al Franken’s spokesman Andy Barr: “Minnesotans have waited a long time to find out who won this race – and today’s unanimous ruling means that the process can move forward…