Minnesota Camps React To State Supremes’ Ruling Against Certifying Franken

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The Franken campaign has sent us this statement from lead attorney Marc Elias, responding to the state Supreme Court’s decision against their lawsuit to force the state to give Franken a certificate of election during the election-contest litigation: “We’d hoped for different results, but we’re moving forward. At this point, we’re within a couple weeks of completing the election contest.”

Earlier today, the Coleman campaign posted a comparatively longer statement from legal spokesman Ben Ginsberg, celebrating the ruling. The first sentence: “The Minnesota Supreme Court’s decision is a victory for Minnesota Law and Minnesotans. This wise ruling will ensure that Harry Reid, Al Franken and Chuck Schumer cannot short-circuit Minnesota Law in their partisan power play.”

Ginbserg also referred in the statement to the court having an “obligation to certify the number of ‘lawfully cast ballots’ for each candidate.” As I’ve pointed out, this is not what the law says — nor can I recall ever seeing any Coleman lawyer actually saying this in court, where it matters.

The statute actually says the court is to decide which candidate “received the highest number of votes legally cast.” This is obviously a much lower standard than certifying the exact number of votes for each candidate — a task that no rational person would even attempt with 2.9 million ballots. Then again, this daily line from Ginsberg has to be viewed in light of the current push by the Coleman campaign to throw out the election result on the grounds that a winner can’t be determined.

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