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By GottaLaff

Will it ever end?

In an effort to accelerate Minnesota’s Senate election trial, the judges held a hearing Thursday to discuss the parameters for rejecting absentee ballots, a pivotal issue in the case to determine a winner in the 2008 race. [...]

Predictably, the two sides had widely diverse interpretations of what should qualify as a “legally cast” vote.

The judges’ ruling on the matter, expected Monday, will shape the nature of the trial going forward, providing a framework for the type of rejected ballots likely be ruled valid. [...]

The trial, now in its third week, has bogged down as Coleman’s legal team has presented painstaking evidence, ballot by ballot, of votes that it argued should have been counted. [...]

Franken’s attorneys characterized the Coleman campaign’s stance as a request “for judicial activism.” Their brief argued that Coleman is “not asking the court to apply the standards established by the legislature and the secretary of state . . . but rather go significantly beyond what the law permits.” [...]

It will be up to the judges, Edward M. Foley, a professor at Ohio State University, wrote on the Election Law@Moritz blog, to “decide how to balance these two competing interests, fairness and the need for rule-compliance, with respect to each of the 19 categories.”

If the judges lean towards fairness, it will broaden the pool of ballots ultimately determined to have been wrongly rejected, a boon to Coleman, who has argued that as many as 5,500 additional absentee ballots should be counted.

If they buy Franken’s argument and stick with the limits imposed during the recount, it will be much more difficult for Coleman to close the gap. [...]

Franken’s lead in the race got a boost earlier this week when the trial judges ruled that 23 voters who intervened in the case should have their votes counted. Those individuals were part of a group of 61 Franken voters who petitioned the court to admit their absentee ballots, arguing they had been wrongly rejected.

The court said the remaining voters would have to provide additional evidence before it could decide whether theirs ballots should also be counted.

That's the latest.