MN Court Tells Coleman To STFU - Dismisses All Complaints - Orders 400 Ballots Counted by April 7.

[jefferson_dem]

Updated with StarTrib story:

Court to count up to 400 ballots in Senate recount trial
Total is far fewer than Coleman sought in effort to close gap with Franken

By PAT DOYLE, Star Tribune

Last update: March 31, 2009 - 4:10 PM

In a potentially decisive ruling, a panel of three judges today ordered up to 400 new absentee ballots opened and counted, far fewer than Republican Norm Coleman had sought in his effort to overcome a lead by DFLer Al Franken.

The ballots also appear to include many that Franken had identified as wrongly rejected as well as ballots that Coleman wanted opened.

Spokespersons for Coleman and Franken were not immediately available for comment.

But absentee ballots rejected during and after the November election became the centerpiece of Coleman's court challenge of the 225-vote lead that Franken obtained after a recount.

The three-judge panel ordered the ballots delivered to the Secretary of State's Office by April 6 and opened and counted April 7 inthe Supreme Court room at the Minnesota Judicial Center.

In rejecting most of the ballots Coleman had sought to open, the panel dismissed his lawyers' arguments that it apply a more lenient standard in deciding which ballots should be counted.

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/42221767.html

Here's a link to a kos diary entry: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/3/31/715102/-BREAKING:-MN-Sen-court-order-in-(updating-as-I-read-it)

[HopeOverFear]

1. Just watch, they're gonna make a movie about this one day

just like "Recount".

[HereSince1628]

4. At the rate things are going, it'll need to be done in sequels.

[Dinger]

2. As Soon As He Is Seated (& He Will Be Seated),

An amendment, a law, a bill, etc., should be enacted so that this shit never happens again.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

6. "In a world............." nt

[pleah]

3. K&R

[wellstone dem]

5. link to pdf of order- worth the read

http://www.minnpost.com/client_files/pdfs/OrderToCountBallots.pdf