Franken asks for certificate to take seat

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Democrat Al Franken is asking the Minnesota governor and secretary of state to issue an election certificate that would let him take office in the Senate. In letters the campaign sent Monday, Franken's lawyers argue that a seven-day waiting period has passed and he should get the signed certificate. State law requires the waiting period after the election is finalized; the election was finalized on Jan. 5, with Franken leading Republican Norm Coleman by 225 votes after a statewide recount. But Coleman is suing over the result. Minnesota law appears to prevent the issuance of a certificate until that case is resolved. Franken attorney Marc Elias says the campaign believes federal law entitles him to the certificate before the Coleman lawsuit is settled.



There was no word from Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Democratic Secretary of State Mark Ritchie. The critical task of picking a three-judge panel to hear the lawsuit won't be made by the Supreme Court's chief justice, Eric Magnuson, according to a court spokesman. Magnuson is delegating the decision to Justice Alan Page, who has the most seniority. Magnuson didn't give a reason for his recusal, but he served on the state board that determined Franken got more votes than Coleman. Page has been on the court since his 1992 election in a nonpartisan race. He has been mentioned before as a possible Democratic candidate for political office. A trial is supposed to commence within three weeks of the case being filed.



In going to court, Coleman has three big challenges: raising money to pay escalating legal bills, proving the election was flawed and managing the public's desire to have the race over. "They definitely have an uphill fight on their hands," said Guy-Uriel Charles, a professor of election and constitutional law at the University of Minnesota. "Their legal theory will have to overcome a burden of proof, and then they have to find enough votes to overcome Franken's lead." That could prove difficult, since any bloc of new votes would almost surely include some for Franken. A lawsuit gives both sides options they lacked during the recount, such as accessing voter rolls, inspecting machines and introducing testimony from election workers.



Coleman's filing includes some of the points his lawyers have been making for weeks. It centers mainly around claims that hundreds of rejected absentee ballots from Republican-leaning areas should have been part of the recount, that some ballots in Democratic territory were counted twice and that election officials were wrong to use machine tallies for a Minneapolis precinct where ballots went missing.



But there are new angles, too.



The lawsuit alleges that the Canvassing Board made mistakes when determining voter intent on challenged ballots, that ineligible voters cast ballots and that some absentee ballots were erroneously opened early, raising chain-of-custody concerns.



Coleman was asked at his news conference if he was certain he'd win his legal challenge. "I can't say I'm 100 percent confident," he said. "I don't know what the outcome will be. It was a lot closer than I thought it would be."