Coleman Camp Looking For Voters -- By Printing Their Names
The Coleman campaign has launched the latest P.R. front in their effort to have the rejected absentee ballots reconsidered, with some interesting potential ethical ramifications.
The Coleman camp's Web site has now published in an easily accessible form the names and home counties of every individual who delivered an absentee ballot and who has not yet been counted. In Hennepin County (Minneapolis), which has its municipalities run elections instead of the county, we are also shown the home towns of the people involved.
"Check below to see if you are one of the thousands of Minnesotans the Franken campaign is seeking to disenfranchise," the page says. "And please contact us at info@colemanforsenate.com to express your support for our effort to have your vote counted."
It gets better. By including every last rejected ballot, regardless of backstory or merit, they are including ballots they themselves earlier objected to counting, under the state Supreme Court's controversial decision that gave the candidates a veto power over improperly-rejected absentees -- and they're now saying it's the Franken campaign who is disenfranchising these people.
This list includes everyone from Dennis Peterson, who we'd previously reported had his ballot vetoed and kept out of the count by the Coleman camp themselves, to Douglas Thompson, the friendly Coleman witness who admitted that he obtained his ballot through his girlfriend forging his signature on the application.
And remember, the Coleman campaign's position until the last few weeks was that none of these ballots should ever be counted. It wasn't until some of the ballots that the local officials had decided were improperly rejected the first time around started coming in, that the Coleman camp started actively looking for voters to put into the count.
It doesn't appear at first glance that this information was legally confidential before now -- anyone with the time and resources could have put it together -- but no campaign had previously taken the step of publicizing it to this degree in a public data-dump.
Back in November and December, the Franken campaign was publicizing individuals who had their ballots rejected. But these were all people who spoke with the Franken campaign and either consented or directly participated in the publicity.
There is also some question over whether the Coleman camp faked a Web site crash as a way of publicizing that they were launching this site.
Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
omg omg omg
what an arese.
January 29, 2009 12:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
Their faking the website crash is pretty well documented, or so it would appear.
At this point, can we believe anything Quimby says?
January 29, 2009 1:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hey thanks Quimby! I wasn't 100% sure that my absentee vote against you had arrived in time. Now I know since I'm not on your list.
Give it up Quimby.
January 29, 2009 1:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
List of Rejected Ballots for GRANT County
* HARRIETT OLSON
* HARRIETT OLSON
* GREG ROSIN
* GREG ROSIN
I think I know why it got rejected... double counting anyone? :)
January 29, 2009 1:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
Coleman is so transparent. All he is doing is attempting to throw the whole process into chaos and disrepute by bringing thousands of angry voters down on the court.
This is an act of a someone who has nothing to lose. What a sore loser.
January 29, 2009 2:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wouldn't this have been an action that would have made much more sense before the trial started, rather than after it has been going on a couple days?
They are just making all this up as they go along, right?
January 29, 2009 4:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
It would have made more sense to do it when he was against counting every absentee ballot, instead of now that he's for counting every absentee ballot.
BTW - what happened to voter fraud? I thought that Norm & his party was for the integrity of elections, not for just letting everyone vote, even if their girlfriend forged the application?
Amazing what losing will do for hard-held Republican convictions.
January 29, 2009 7:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's cheating if the vote were for a Democrat. It's a misunderstanding if casted fr a repug.
January 29, 2009 12:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Boy, not only do I enjoy laughing at the ignorance and incompetance of Republicans but also at the ignorance and incompetence of their lawyers ...
January 29, 2009 4:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
How did such a pitiful excuse for a man get to be one of Minnesota’s Senators? Oh that's right their was a plane crash; wasn't their! Well their wasn't a plane crash this time and Coleman lost. Republicans need to understand that this state is a Democratic stronghold; always was and always will be. And if it wasn't for the various shenanigans like plane crashes and "hybrid candidates" in the race like Dean Barkley and such Republicans would never have a chance to win Senate races in Minnesota. Norm "The Switcher" Coleman made his bed; he needs to shut up and now lay in it. My suggestion for Norm is that he take his ass back to New York were he came from.
January 29, 2009 8:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
Pardon me, but there was a crash...the GOP. Coleman refuses to be honorable and go down with the sinking ship he helped steer onto the reef.
January 29, 2009 12:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Coleman has moved from completely desperate to embarrassingly pathetic!
January 29, 2009 8:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
It would be a wonderful example of poetic justice if more of these voters voted for Franken and his lead expanded.
January 29, 2009 9:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
No ... it would be better for more witnesses to appear with sob stories that turn out to be cases of fraud. If enough of them are presented, Franklin would be a shoo-in without any legal doubt.
January 29, 2009 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, why not a website with the ACORN rolls? We don't want to disenfranchise Mickey Mouse, do we? Norm won't rest til every Lizard person's vote is counted! As a Minnesotan, I'd apologize, except I never voted for the moron.
January 29, 2009 9:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
There area actually a good number, something like 5 or 6 Mickey Mouses listed in the FL phonebook. There's also a guy named Duran Duran listed in the phonebook and registered to vote in NM. Much to the chagrin of the National Review wanker who whined about it.
January 29, 2009 10:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
Coleman's website isn't loading for me this morning... they must have a Pentium server w/ 64 Mb of RAM...
January 29, 2009 9:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
Couldn't get on either:
The connection has timed out. The server at colemanforsenate.com is taking too long to respond.
They're running a Commodore 64?
January 29, 2009 9:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
They probably want that website to "crash" as well. When you're losing in the court room, you try and win it in the press.
What Coleman is essentially arguing now is for election reform, but you can't make it retroactive, it would have to be going forward.
January 29, 2009 9:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
It is fun, though, I must admit, to watch this case. Because this is the quintessential right wing nut job AM radio driven agenda item still in action today.
Limbaugh and Hannity talked their way with bull to keep their party in line for the stimulus bill.
Now they still have Coleman flailing away in MN because they would rather KILL than have Franken in the U.S. Senate.
Good stuff this is!
January 29, 2009 9:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
When the hell is the Minnesota Court going to put this son-of-bitch out of his misery? And us too?
January 29, 2009 9:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
The easily accessible Coleman website is not working Thursday morning. Faking another crash? I tried the link at 9:40 a.m. CST and it was not responding. Can't these guys do anything right?
January 29, 2009 10:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think Coleman's using one of the other internets. Probably the one that's a series of tubes.
January 29, 2009 10:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Poor, deluded Senator Horse Teeth. Anyone in MN know if there is a public backlash?
January 29, 2009 10:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think he got those choppers from Matt Dillon in "Something About Mary" Appropriate, he's as stupid as the character.
January 29, 2009 11:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
remember we still have a email address to send lots and lots of various and sundry notes to. I have sent things like sympathy cards, etc..
I suggest we all do the same!
January 29, 2009 10:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
I intended to vote for Coleman on election day but I forgot to register and I overslept.
Why won't they let me vote now? I think Franken and his librul buddies want to disenfranchise me.
January 29, 2009 11:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
@ Earthling -- re: MN backlash, I can only give you totally unscientific anecdotal finding, since our near-bankrupt newspaper shills for Coleman every chance it gets and wouldn't want to conduct a potentially embarrassing poll (this is the same daily paper that refused to print any news about the Colemans' ethics problem in week before the November election; they actually endorsed Coleman the weekend before the election (the day my wife & I cancelled our sub); their headline the day Coleman announced his court challenge = "Let's Get it Right!"
But what I can give you is this: reader comments to the Strib online stories re: our former Senator now run very strongly against him. One reader used the yes/no click button to conduct an informal poll as to whether Coleman should drop the case or take it all the way to US Supremes, the result (as of about 5 mins ago) was 109 for dropping case, 29 for going ahead.
January 29, 2009 11:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think the perfect solution is for the MN SC to say that all rejected absentee ballots be counted. This will probably result in Franken's lead doubling or tippling, if it goes the same way the counting of the 900+ absentee ballots that were improperly disqualified.
There is no way the MN SC is going to rule in Coleman's favor that only the ballots he cherry-picked will be counted.
I wonder what Coleman's objection would be to counting all the absentee ballots. I'm sure he would have one because he knows that wouldn't benefit him.
January 29, 2009 11:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
Colelman's http://colemanforsenate.com/rejected-absentee-ballots/ gives an error message as does http://colemanforsenate.com/. Interesting.
January 29, 2009 11:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
Is there any talk in Minnesota about changing the election law, to allow the secretary of state (or whoever) to certify a winner once the recount is complete? As this race has made painfully clear, the current law gives losers so much incentive to prolong the process in court.
January 29, 2009 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
This fake website crash should be the end of Norm. But alas, it is pretty complicated. It is a fake, though, as is clearly explained at the MNPublius link above.
January 29, 2009 12:54 PM | Reply | Permalink