Our View: Time for Minnesota Senate seat to be filled (Peoria Journal Star)

[struggle4progress]

Posted Apr 21, 2009 @ 10:30 PM

More than five months after Election Day 2008 came and went, one contest still remains unresolved: a U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota ...

After election night, Coleman had a slim, 206-vote lead, but an automatic recount, by hand, lasting seven weeks flipped the result, giving Franken a 225-vote margin of victory. Coleman ran to court to contest the recount, claiming in part that 1,400 rejected absentee ballots deserved to be counted. After seven weeks of reviewing more than 1,700 exhibits and transcripts, a three-judge panel ruled that 400 of those ballots could be reviewed; of those, 351 were counted. Franken’s victory margin increased to 312.

But now Coleman plans to appeal to the state Supreme Court. If it takes the case, Minnesota might have only one voice in the Senate until sometime this summer, perhaps longer, at a critical time in this nation’s history. Both men have spent millions battling over a handful of rejected votes. As usual only the attorneys raking it all in are happy.

The legally mandated recount made sense, and we’ll grant that the court hearings thus far were important. But enough is enough. Elections should be decided by the votes of the people, not months and months of litigation. At this point, what’s this all about, the two candidates or the constituents they supposedly wish to serve? The latter have already issued their verdict, if a recent poll is to be believed. Nearly two-thirds of respondents, including a third of Coleman’s voters, believe he should concede and bring this election to a merciful close ... http://www.pjstar.com/opinions/x1515188502/Our-View-Time-for-Minnesota-Senate-seat-to-be-filled