Pawlenty Raps Supreme Court Over Recount

Minnesota GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty slammed a state Supreme Court ruling that could ultimately propel Democratic challenger Al Franken to victory over incumbent GOP Sen. Norm Coleman in the heated recount battle.

Specifically, Pawlenty said the Minnesota Supreme Court had turned over too much authority to the two campaigns when it ruled they must agree on which absentee ballots were improperly rejected on Election Day.

Local election officials across the state have identified 933 ballots that were rejected for reasons that do not match the conditions specified by state law – ballots that presumably were valid.

The two candidates are currently separated by just 225 votes out of nearly 3 million cast, with Franken leading.

The Coleman campaign has identified about 654 more absentee ballots that they would like to see included. But state officials have refused, in part because the Franken campaign does not agree. The ballots are from pro-Coleman precincts.

Last week, the Coleman campaign sent a letter to the secretary of state’s office objecting that the process for deciding which absentee ballots were improperly rejected would lead to “an invalid and unreliable election result.”

During his weekly program on Minneapolis-based WCCO radio on Friday, the governor suggested the Court effectively gave veto power to the Franken campaign over which ballots ought to be counted.

“It seems odd that you would turn over somebody’s legal right to vote to the campaigns,” Pawlenty said. “It seems to me that would be a matter of law, or facts of law, for the courts to determine.”