Norm Coleman is going to play it again, Sam

April 21, 11:43 AMSouth St. Paul ExaminerRob Shirk

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"Casablanca"

Norm Coleman did what he said he would do and appealed the decision in the 2008 senate race with Al Franken to the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Landslide Al Franken has prevailed in the election, the recount, and a district court case.The fundamental arguments have not changed throughout the later stages of the legal process.

Landslide Norm Coleman insists that the absentee ballot interpretation is wrong and that standards that were held during the election were less stringent than what was interpreted during the court's rulings, thereby disenfranchising up to 4,000 Minnesota voters. It is the foundation of his lawsuit.

The Minnesota tradition in law [is] to enfranchise people, and their decision disenfranchises many Minnesotans whose votes have been wrongly rejected -- Coleman legal spokesman Ben Ginsberg.

The court has maintained that while Minnesota law is designed to give voters one of the easiest ways in the country to vote "in person" by using "same day registration" it has one of the most stringent requirements for those who decide to vote absentee. The last election cycle produced 332,087 total voters using the absentee method. Unlike many states, Minnesota law asserts that voting absentee is a privilege and not a right.

Of these 332,087 absentee votes cast there are around 4,000 ballots in dispute by Landslide Norm, being rejected for various reasons during the voting and subsequent legal procedures.  The Landslide Al camp asserts that people must follow four rules in filling the paperwork out, no exceptions allowed. The court agreed, citing it to be so stringent as protection against voter fraud. Rules are rules. Almost everybody got it right.

Landslide Norm takes a different view, stating that the ballots that have been rejected should be looked at again. His line of thinking is that the vote should count if it can be determined what the voter intended when they voted even if they didn't dot the i's and cross the t's exactly. This is where the 4,000 disinfranchised number comes from. It is a more forgiving approach. So far, the courts have unanimously disagreed. No one knows what's in those ballot envelopes.

Play it once, Sam, for old times' sake -- Ilsa Lund in "Casablanca"

The actual filing of briefs before the Minnesota Supreme Court could begin between two and six weeks from now. By law has to be on a "fast track" and like Ingrid Bergman in the movie "Casablanca", Landslide Norm Coleman is asking to play it again, Sam.

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