Monday, January 5, 2009

Meet The Junior Senator From Minnesota

Congratulations Senator Franken.


Today the Minnesota state canvassing board officially certified Al Franken the winner by 225 votes, a margin of 0.0077% and Al Franken has declared victory. It should be noted that Coleman has not yet conceded defeat. Coleman may well continue legal challenges (though one seeking to count certain rejected absentee ballots was denied by the Minnesota Supreme Court today).

The certification by the board makes it very difficult for Coleman to win any legal challenge. The certification is the final step by the canvassing board officials, i.e. the people charged with actually counting the votes. This decision means that legally Franken is presumed to be the nominee, and any challenge by Coleman will bear a much heavier burden of persuasion. Think of it like the NFL replay rule: the call on the field is presumed to be right unless the replay indisputably shows that it should be overturned.

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