FRANKEN CAMPAIGN INTENDS TO STOP RECOUNT VOTE

As Franken Files Papers To Have D.C. Lawyers Appear Before Minnesota Canvassing Board, Franken Campaign Begins Effort To Stop Minnesota Recount

ST. PAUL – In an unprecedented effort to foil the results of the 2008 U.S. Senate Race, the Franken Campaign today announced its intention to ask the State Canvassing Board to stop a recount that is scheduled to begin this Wednesday.
According to published reports in Roll Call this afternoon:

“The Franken campaign filed a brief with the five-person board Monday, demanding a delay.

“‘We would ask them to not certify the vote count’ Marc Elias, a Democratic election lawyer working for Franken, said in a news conference Monday.’”

According to Coleman campaign Senior Counsel, Fritz Knaak, the effect of the Franken campaign to try to block the recount from moving forward is not only unprecedented, but is further evidence of the campaign’s efforts to overturn the will of the voters of Minnesota.

“The Franken campaign’s decision to demand that the State Canvassing Board accept rejected absentee ballots was a blatant admission they do not have the votes to overturn the re-election of Norm Coleman,” Knaak said. “However, their public statement that – failing to succeed in this desperate and unprecedented act tomorrow – they will ask the State Canvassing Board to stop the recount is breathtaking in its far-reaching scope that could leave Minnesotans without a senator in January. Minnesotans will not stand for this obvious effort to win through a legal system what the Franken campaign could not win through the ballot box.”

The Franken campaign effort comes on the heels of an announcement by the Minnesota Secretary of State that Coleman’s 206 vote lead has grown to 215 votes. According to Knaak, the emerging evidence that Coleman will win in a fair, legal and transparent recount is causing the Franken campaign to shift into a highly litigious and legalistic effort to block the recount, and invalidate the results of the election.

“Now is the time for Minnesotans to understand fully the intention of the Franken campaign,” Knaak added. “The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office has soundly rejected Franken’s arguments and said the rejected absentee ballots do not belong in the recount tally. If their unbridled power play is allowed to succeed, the Franken campaign will have singlehandedly undermined the integrity and efficacy of Minnesota’s entire election system. We call on the Franken campaign to stop these legal tactics that undermine the integrity of our state’s election process.”

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