ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - The judges in Minnesota's Senate trial on Tuesday ordered that 23 previously rejected absentee ballots be opened and added to the race, setting the stage for counting perhaps thousands more such ballots and giving Republican Norm Coleman a shot at erasing Democrat Al Franken's 225-vote lead.
The ballots belong to voters who sued to have them counted. They have been identified as Franken supporters, but Coleman's lawyers were encouraged by the order because they want another 4,700 rejected absentee ballots to be counted.
"It's basically what we've been asking for all along," Coleman attorney Ben Ginsberg said of the trial's first judicial order to count previously rejected ballots.
Franken's attorney, Marc Elias, also praised the order. "We're obviously pleased, having said all along that these witnesses should have their votes counted," he said.
The 23 voters "have provided unrebutted evidence that their absentee ballots were legally cast and should be counted," read the order signed by judges Elizabeth Hayden, Kurt Marben and Denise Reilly. The judges said they would determine later when the 23 absentees should be opened and added to the count.
MOREThe saga continues.
