Posted on 01/05/2009 4:12:21 PM PST by MplsSteve
Dear Supporter,
As you may have read or heard by now, today the Minnesota State Canvassing Board met and made their determination in the U.S. Senate Recount, effectively proving that the only declaration coming today is one of an inaccurate count.
There are a number of problems with the total certified today, including double counted votes, over 650 potentially wrongly rejected absentee votes, resulting in the disenfranchising of Minnesota voters and jeopardizing the integrity of Minnesota's election system.
Harry Reid and national Democrats have now publicly said they will try to seat Al Franken tomorrow when the 111th Congress convenes and new members are sworn in. This action, the very first action of the 111th Congress and the new Democrat leadership that campaigned on a theme of bipartisanship, will result in an historic political power play done at the behest of Al Franken. Minnesotans have the right to elect their own elected officials, just like every other state in the country, and this stunning move by Al Franken and Harry Reid strips Minnesotans of that right.
Please click here to help us continue to fight to ensure that every valid vote counts.
Coleman for Senate counsel Tony Trimble made the following statement this afternoon, raising the serious concerns our campaign has raised consistently during the recount process, and signaling our intent to file an election contest within the next 24 hours:
The actions today by the Canvassing Board are but the first step in what, unfortunately, will now have to be a longer process. This process isn't at the end; it is now just at the beginning.
We will contest the results of the Canvassing Board -- otherwise, literally millions of Minnesotans will be disenfranchised.
While we appreciate the effort of this board to do the work, the reality is that any certification of vote totals at this point is only preliminary. As this Canvassing Board has recognized, there still exist serious problems with inconsistencies in the administrative recount, and therefore in the validity and reliability of the numbers certified today.
There can be no count that is accurate or valid when 654 potentially valid absentee votes remain disenfranchised and when some votes are counted twice - leading to a violation of one of the most sacred principles of our constitution - "One person, One vote."
And, there can be no justification to report out a total when 133 votes were included in a count where there are not ballots to support them. Or when a batch of votes were not counted on Election Night, but were miraculously "found" during the recount and included.
If the Canvassing Board had resolved all these issues, then the process might be completed. But the Board has deferred the resolution of those issues for the contest phase provided for in Minnesota law.
Since the process is far from complete, there can be no confidence in the current results of the United States Senate Recount, and we will file a contest within the next 24 hours to promptly correct those problems and inaccuracies. The Supreme Court ruling today also emphasizes that that's what we must do to provide an accurate count for this election.
Senator Coleman is adamant that we not wait a moment longer than necessary to ensure that the election be completed with accuracy and validity - and most importantly, without disenfranchising Minnesota voters or having a cloud remain over the results.
The utter lack of uniformity in the treatment of rejected absentee ballots, resulting in the disenfranchising of voters, is perhaps the most troublesome aspect of the recount.
Similar ballots were treated differently by different counties. This creates an Equal Protection violation that fatally taints any result that includes these ballots.
This was precisely what the Minnesota Supreme Court order said to avoid.
Unfortunately, with this announcement today, numerous Minnesotans will be wrongly disenfranchised because their votes are not counted. Mr. Franken and his campaign for purely political reasons no longer want to "count all the votes".
And, it is with great disappointment that we've seen senior members of the Secretary of State's Office contributing to the process being broken.
When senior members of the Secretary of State's office, charged with ensuring a fair and balanced process, engage in acts which undermine that neutrality, all of us must be concerned.
The fact is the Canvassing Board's current totals are invalid and unreliable because:
· Original and duplicate ballots have been double counted - even members of the Canvassing Board acknowledge this is a serious issue, yet nothing was resolved - instead, double counted votes were simply added to their recount totals.
· Newly discovered ballots, which appeared for the first time during the recount and are included in the Canvassing Board totals without proper reconciliation to the number of voters signed into the precincts on Election Day.
· Missing ballots supposedly tallied on election night that could not be found during the recount process are included in the Canvassing Board count contrary to Minnesota precedent.
· And again, an inconsistent treatment of challenged ballots - an inconsistent treatment of wrongfully rejected absentee ballots - and an inconsistent treatment of the campaign by the very office charged with coordinating this recount simply results in a process that is broken.
The recount was supposed to be a recount - fair and reasoned - and one that would retain the credibility of the outcome of this election.
However, it ceased being that the day that duplicate ballots and "missing ballots" were included in the count, and simply became more and more broken each and every day.
We had hoped that the board would refrain from reporting out with unanimity a recount total today. Since that did not happen, we will file an election contest within the next 24 hours.
It will be based upon the issues I have outlined, as well as the lack of inclusion of 654 additional ballots that we believe should be a part of this recount and the very serious issue of included double counted votes that disenfranchises Minnesotans.
Our goal and obligation should be to get an accurate and valid vote as quickly as possible, and that is our reason for acting with urgency. Minnesotans ought to be able to expect that an accurate and valid recount would have ensured two United States Senators from Minnesota tomorrow. However, because the process is broken that will not happen.
We strongly believe that every valid vote must be counted. We have called for that principle to be the basis of this entire recount process, and we will not stop now. We firmly believe that once that happens, just like on election night, Norm Coleman will have the most votes in this close race, and be re-elected to the United States Senate. We know- all too well- that it has been a long road, and we value your friendship, advice and support throughout the campaign and recount.
We need your continued help as we move forward with an election contest to ensure the sanctity of Minnesota's election process. Please click here to continue supporting our efforts, and to help us maintain a strong, knowledgeable and skilled team carrying this effort forward.
I apologize for the lack of a link to this article. It came directly into my e-mail box from Coleman's campaign.
I thought many Freepers out there would like to be kept abreast of what's gonna happen next. Thank you in advance for allowing this post to stay up.
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How about it? Is Coleman a liar?
All this effort for a fair and honest election is mute. The Communists/Socialists machine is too huge to be upset. We are under criminal type rule and will be for many years.
Take it to court, the Supreme Court and use the same arguments that the GWB’s lawyers used in Bush v. Gore.
A rhino bites the dust.
Isn’t that what people here want?
I get the same e-mails....
Coleman should have just man’d-up and announced that he was going to fight this to the political death.....
This note turned into a cry for help ($).
He just doesn’t get it......
Isn’t this where the 2nd amendment kicks in?
Aren’t we being ruled by a Tyranny?
Be sure and find a judge that hasn’t been bought.
What will happen next is that Franken will be seated by a RAT majority and another election is successfully xtolen.
And I’ll be making sure that I and my money will stay the hell out of MN for the foreseeable future.
Doesn’t the Republican Governor of Minnesota (Tim Pawlenty) need to sign the certificate of election? I don’t see that happening anytime soon given the shenanigans that have been going on.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6626504.html
It was posted on one of the threads over the weekend that 25 precincts have more “counted” votes than voters recorded as voting? Do you know if that is the case and whether anything can be done about that issue?
It may be that Minnesotans didn’t elect him, that the DNC ACORN stash got him the election win. But the fact remains, too many Minnesotans voted for the liberal scum, meaning they like liberal scum. Welcome to the America of obamanoid affirmative action hope and change. It’s hard to decide which state is more dangerous to even drive through on the way to somewhere else, Florida or Minnesota?
Coleman is more than a day late ...
I’m sick and tired of the warm, fuzzy GOP approach, especially from RINO’s.
Lose/lose scenario.
There's the money quote.....
I agree, I’m appalled, a US Senate election is of national concern. I hear the same complaints took place with the Washington state governor’s race, but that is local. The Senate is a body that represents the entire nation and we’re toooooo divided, and there are too many indiscrepancies in this recount. I’d only trust a statewide reelection at this point!
Well, the WSJ seems to think so, but Coleman hasn't made an issue of it so it seems unlikely to be true. Coleman will be filing a contest of the election in court tomorrow. If he does not present any evidence on those 25 precincts that overcounted then I would presume that it didn't happen (otherwise Coleman is a moron for not using available evidence).
Highly unlikely there will be a revote — it costs millions of dollars to hold and there is no provision for it in the state constitution. There have been new elections called for a few congressional races, but they are much smaller and cheaper to hold.
“It may be that Minnesotans didn’t elect him, that the DNC ACORN stash got him the election win. But the fact remains, too many Minnesotans voted for the liberal scum, meaning they like liberal scum. Welcome to the America of obamanoid affirmative action hope and change. It’s hard to decide which state is more dangerous to even drive through on the way to somewhere else, Florida or Minnesota?”
I agree, it should not have been close enough for ACORN to steal. Ventura and now Franken? Not only is Minn. a joke, it is dead to me. Their sports teams are dead to me. They will see exactly $0 from me. It may be that I’m painting with a broad brush but I simply cannot reward such political stupidity. If they’re not going to take it seriously, I’m not going to take them seriously.
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