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Franken video makes case for counting absentee ballots
Mike and Brandi Brickley thought they followed the rules. The Bloomington couple made sure they were registered to vote after they moved into a new home, and they requested absentee ballots well in advance of the November election. They later learned those ballots were rejected. "And then to find out that - hey - the way I'm filling out my ballot isn't going to count anyway?" Mike said. He shook his head. "I'm very frustrated," Brandi said. The Brickley's story is one of five stories told on a web video released Wednesday by Al Franken's campaign in an effort to convince the state canvassing board that it should count wrongfully rejected absentee ballots in Minnesota's still undecided U.S. Senate race. The problem for the Brickleys, which the couple learned about after Franken's campaign started doing research, was that an election official questioned whether they actually were registered to vote. And in Mike's case, he didn't sign his own name on the envelope holding his ballot. Mike is a quadriplegic, and as he often does, he asked his wife to sign the envelope for him. In an affidavit, he said his wife's signature on his behalf is a "genuine signature," which is what Minnesota law requires on an absentee ballot. "I want my vote counted," he said. The Franken campaign backs up each of the stories in its video with documentation (see links at right), and it says the Minnesotans featured are among the hundreds of absentee voters whose ballots were improperly rejected on Election Day. "It's about people," said Andy Barr, Franken's communications director. "Minnesotans who did everything right to have their voice heard on Election Day, but because of a simple and honest mistake that someone else made, their vote isn't being counted." Norm Coleman's campaign calls the video an effort to "short circuit" the process. "I think the video they put out today just reflects, again, their willingness to ignore the results of the recount, where we think we'll come out ahead," said Mark Drake, Coleman's communications director. Secretary of State Mark Ritchie said figuring what to do with wrongfully rejected absentee ballots -- and he estimates there about 1,000 of them statewide -- will be a top priority when the state canvassing board convenes Friday. "There are two objectives," he said. "Making sure every eligible cast vote is included, and making sure that the voter's intent is respected and honored." The state canvassing board, on which Ritchie sits with two Ramsey County judges and two state Supreme Court justices, has a lot on its agenda Friday. In addition to deciding how to handle wrongfully rejected absentee ballots, the board also will discuss what to do about 133 ballots missing from a precinct in Minneapolis. The board also will begin to talk about how it plans to tackle the piles of ballots that were challenged by both campaigns during the recount. On the issue of the absentee ballots, Coleman's campaign has insisted Franken is planning to file a lawsuit if the ballots aren't included in the canvass. Likewise, there has been speculation the Coleman campaign will go to court to block the absentee ballots if the board does decide to count them. Neither side wanted to talk about lawsuits Wednesday. "One step at a time," Drake said.
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