GOP activist seeks rejected absentee Senate ballots

Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune

June 9, 2009

GOP activist and blogger Michael Brodkorb has asked for copies of rejected absentee ballots from areas where for the most part Republican Norm Coleman ran strongly in the disputed November election for U.S. Senate.

Brodkorb filed a Minnesota Data Practices request with Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Olmsted, Sherburne and Washington counties, and in the cities of Edina, Minnetonka, Orono and Plymouth.

Statewide, local election officials rejected about 12,000 absentee ballots on Election Day for failing to meet legal requirements. Nearly 1,300 were eventually deemed legal after reconsideration by the officials, representatives of Coleman and fellow Senate candidate Al Franken, and judges who heard the U.S. Senate trial. But the rest remain excluded because the judges said they lacked evidence they were cast by registered voters or met other state law requirements.

Brodkorb said he wants to post copies of ballots from the selected areas on his website. It's part of an effort by Republicans to draw attention to rejected ballots they continue to argue should be reconsidered.

State law classifies sealed absentee ballots as nonpublic prior to their opening by an election judge. In cases where rejected ballot envelopes are unopened, Brodkorb wants election judges to open them to copy the ballots.

PAT DOYLE