According to StarTribune story Friday, Norm Coleman thinks he can win the vacant U.S. Senate seat because most of the disputed absentee ballots from heavily DFL areas already have been counted, while rejected ballots in Republican-leaning precincts such as Carver County and Plymouth have yet to be tallied.

The StarTribune story can be found here.

A Villager story from Feb. 12 is below. 

Rejected absentee ballots

In Carver County, the most common reasons for rejection of absentee ballots were:

48% - witness problem (no witness, no witness address, witness not registered, etc)

15% - no proof of residence or problem with ID number missing or incorrect (non-registered only)

14% - no voter signature

9% - received after Election Day

5% - signature on envelope did not match application

9% - Other (sometimes a combination of any number of above)

Source: Carver County election officials 

County’s rejected absentee ballots coveted by Coleman 

By Richard Crawford

Rejected absentee ballots in Carver County could play an important role in Minnesota’s Senate recount trial if Norm Coleman’s camp gets its wish.

There were 545 absentee ballots rejected in Carver County in the last election and one of the main goals of Norm Coleman’s legal strategy is to get more rejected ballots back into play. The Coleman campaign has submitted a list of 372 rejected absentee ballots from Carver County that it would like to be counted.

After the recount was completed in the race involving Democrat Al Franken and Coleman, the Republican incumbent, Franken had a slim statewide lead of 225 votes. In the November election, more than 5,200 Carver County residents submitted absentee ballots, according to county officials. About 10 percent of those were rejected for a variety of reasons. The percentage of rejected ballots was relatively high in Carver County compared to others in the state, according to the Coleman camp. The average rejection rate was around 4 percent, according to Coleman Press Secretary Luke Friedrich. 

Laurie Engelen, the county’s election coordinator, said she was confident county election judges followed “the letter of the law” when it came to determining whether the absentee ballots met eligibility requirements. Carver County officials could appear at the recount trial as soon as this week. The trial is currently in its third week.

One of the arguments Coleman’s legal team has made during the recount trial process is that different counties interpreted rules differently for absentee ballots.

Ben Ginsberg, a spokesman for Coleman’s legal effort, said election officials from around the state attempted to follow the law, but he said “I think people interpret the law differently.” Some election officials placed a higher priority on including as many votes as possible while others placed top priority on following the absentee ballot requirements, he said.

Representatives of Al Franken couldn’t be reached for comment.In theory, getting more absentee ballots to count in Carver County would benefit Coleman. Of all 87 counties in the state, Coleman received the highest percentage of votes in Carver County. Coleman received almost 55 percent of the Carver County vote compared to Franken, who received nearly 29 percent. Independence Party candidate Dean Barkley won 16 percent of the county vote.

The names of the 545 people who cast absentee ballots are public record, however, not all those people are aware their votes didn’t count.

Paul Jaeger, a Victoria resident, said he called the county after the election to determine whether his absentee ballot counted.He said he was surprised to hear that it didn’t. He said his ballot was rejected because the person who witnessed his ballot had a change of address.The vote should be counted, Jaeger said. He said his witness is a registered legal voter in Minnesota whose address simply didn’t match the address on file with election officials. Jaeger said he cast his Senate vote for Coleman.

Gretchen and David Sime of Chanhassen learned on Monday from a reporter that their absentee ballots had been rejected.“We felt like we did everything correctly,” Gretchen Sime said. “We weren’t sure we were going to be in town.” She said both she and her husband had their son sign as a witness and a recent address change may have been a factor in the rejection.“If they are going to do absentee ballots and there is a problem, then people should be notified,” she said.

Gretchen said she cast her ballot for Independence candidate Dean Barkley. She said she wasn’t sure who her husband voted for until she asked him on Monday. He said he voted for Franken.

 Richard Crawford can be reached at editor@chanvillager.com or (952) 345-6471.