HRC Blog

Al Franken close to victory in race for Minnesota U.S. Senate seat

January 5, 2009

DEVELOPING: Minnesota election officials are soon expected to declare Al Franken the winner of a long-contested battle for U.S. Senate. The announcement is expected on the heels of the Minnesota Supreme Court ruling today to deny a challenge by the incumbent, Sen. Norm Coleman (R), to have additional absentee ballots counted to make up his 225-vote deficit against Franken. The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza has more details at The Fix:

The Court -- in an opinion issued this afternoon and signed by Chief Justice Alan Page ( a member of the Purple People Eaters) -- said that Coleman's attempt to include these rejected absentees did not meet the criteria for counting ballots laid out in a previous ruling, specifically that both sides had to agree for any additional ballots to be counted. "Because the parties and the respective counties have not agreed as to any of these additional ballots, the merits of this dispute (and any other disputes with respect to absentee ballots) are the proper subject of an election contest," wrote Page. This ruling comes just hours before the state Canvassing Board is expected to officially declare Franken the winner, twin developments that are likely to add to the momentum the Democrat has been building for the last week or so.

The Minnesota Supreme Court's ruling brings Franken closer to finally winning the seat, although Coleman has the right to bring additional legal challenges:

That challenge is likely to have three main prongs: that the 654 absentee ballots have been wrongly excluded, that roughly 150 ballots have been double-counted, and that 130 ballots that disappeared from a church between election night Nov. 4 and the manual recount should not be included in the final tally. Democrats insist that even if all three of those challenges are resolved in Coleman's favor, he still does not have the votes to make up his current deficit.

The Human Rights Campaign was proud to endorse Al Franken for U.S. Senate. As a comedian, writer and radio talk show host, Al Franken has always been outspoken, and his support of LGBT issues has been no exception. Franken backs pro-equality positions for key legislation such as increased HIV/AIDS funding, fair employment laws, and the repeal of the military’s discriminatory policy. Franken also opposes the Federal Marriage Amendment, which Coleman backed in 2004 and 2006.