Despite the fact that Al Franken's legal contest with Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., is still ongoing, the Democrat has started using the title “senator-elect,” according to a report in Politico, but the Coleman team is fighting back.
Monday, Coleman’s attorneys sent a letter to the three judge panel overseeing the election contest asking them to reconsider their latest ruling that limited the types of previously rejected absentee ballots to be scrutinized, according to CNN.
The judges last week rejected the consideration of any ballots in which signatures didn’t match, those submitted by non-registered voters, or ballots inside a return envelope not signed by the voter.
Coleman’s attorneys argued that not considering all of about 4,800 ballots he wants re-examined is a matter of equal protection under the law, noting that “likely thousands” of the absentee ballots may be in these now forbidden categories.
The state’s hand recount completed in early January and gave Franken a lead of 225 votes. The trial moved into its fourth week of proceedings Monday.
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