MINNEAPOLIS — This week, Minnesota’s Canvassing Board is expected to declare what everyone’s been waiting for in the state’s prolonged U.S. Senate race: A winner.
Well, sort of.
Once it rewards a last batch of votes from more than 950 improperly rejected absentee ballots, the Canvassing Board is expected to declare either Democrat Al Franken or Republican Norm Coleman as winner of the recount.
But Minnesota law lets the losing candidate file an “election contest” that would throw the whole race into the courts, effectively blocking final certification of a new senator.
“I’d say it’s close to inevitable” that the losing candidate will sue, said Edward Foley, an election law expert at Ohio State University who has monitored the Minnesota recount.
Coleman’s term as senator expired Saturday. Meanwhile, Franken pushed his lead in the recount above 220 as state and campaign officials counted the absentee ballots Saturday.
After the board names a winner, the losing candidate has seven days to file a lawsuit. If he does, certification of a winner remains conditional until the court challenge is settled.
Any lawsuit would go to a three-judge panel to be appointed by state Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric Magnuson. It’s not clear whether Magnuson would delegate the decision because he served on the Canvassing Board.
It’s difficult to predict what twists the trial could bring. “Everything really kind of goes back to zero,” said Brian Rice, a Minneapolis attorney who has worked on more than a dozen recounts in Minnesota races.
