Oops: 'Friendly' Coleman Witnesses Backfire

By GottaLaff

D'oh! First the three judge panel throws out Toker Norm's evidence! Now two of his own witnesses provide all the wrong information:

This afternoon the Coleman team was bringing in rejected absentee voters to show that their ballots were improperly tossed. [...] They mostly seemed sympathetic enough, putting a human face on the disenfranchised Coleman voter -- but at least two of them [out of six] appeared to have been rejected properly under the conditions of Minnesota law.

One of the voters was Douglas Thompson, who admitted under oath that his girlfriend filled out his absentee ballot application for him, signing his name with her own hand and purporting to be himself. His ballot was rejected because the signature on his ballot envelope (his own) did not match the signature on the application (his girlfriend's). The Coleman team's argument appears to be that he is still a legal voter in Minnesota, as the signature on the ballot was his own, even if admitted dishonesty was involved in getting the ballot.

Good start. And this was the "friendly" direct examination by his own lawyer, James Langdon. And Langdon was well aware that this information would be revealed. Yes, he knew about it ahead of time. And he presented this witness anyway. Good lawyering, huh? Next:

Another one of the voters, an older man named Wesley Briest, initially responded that he voted at the polls -- not by absentee. Then Coleman attorney James Langdon showed him his absentee ballot envelope, reminding him that he did not go to the polls, too. Upon cross-examination by Franken lawyer Kevin Hamilton, Briest admitted that his wife, who served as the witness on his ballot, did not fully complete the witness section of the absentee ballot.

Mr. Toast.

538's latest on Franken v. Coleman

By GottaLaff

Nate the Great:

For now, however, the various iterations if the statistical process that we applied before now show Norm Coleman as the slight favorite, although his edge is small and might reverse itself if Franken is able to get discarded absentee ballots reconsidered. Look for a more comprehensive update on Minnesota tomorrow.

9,300 miles, 22 hours and $5,000 for one vote: “Apathy doesn’t work in a democracy.”

By GottaLaff

Tears:

For nearly a month, she and her husband had been waiting for their New York State absentee ballots to arrive in India, where she has been working since the summer. A week ago, they realized that even if the ballots arrived before the election — a proposition that was growing more dubious by the minute — they had almost no chance of getting them back in time to be counted.

They had already called the American Consulate, to no avail, and had looked into hiring a round-trip courier service.

“We had a long talk about it,” Ms. Scott-Ker said. “We could go on holiday to a beach somewhere. Or we could come back here and vote. It was a long talk. We decided it was important to stand up and be counted.

“We bought the tickets that Friday, the 24th.”

On Tuesday evening, she and her husband caught a flight from Bangalore to New Delhi, about 1,100 miles. The next leg of the journey, 7,500 miles, took them to Chicago. By 5:30 on Wednesday morning, they had cleared immigration and customs at O’Hare International Airport, and flew the last 700 miles to La Guardia. Their journey of 9,300 miles had taken 22 hours.

It is possible for a traveler to go farther in one direction on earth — but not much. When all their expenses are counted, their trip will have cost them about $5,000, Ms. Scott-Ker said.

My hero.

Her determination is clear. Even so, was it really necessary to go to all that trouble to cast votes in New York State, where most polls give the Democratic ticket a lead of 30 percent or more?

“Then you’re relying on other people to do your job,” she said. “Apathy doesn’t work in a democracy.”

Three more days.

Judge rules for GOP on Indiana absentee ballots

By GottaLaff

It could be worse, but...

Judge rules for GOP on absentee ballots (IN) A Marion County judge ordered Friday that absentee ballots challenged at the polls on Election Day be set aside for review by 'bipartisan' teams later in the week. County Republicans said the ruling, issued in response to their lawsuit, is likely to end up affecting few ballots... But it means that any ballots facing challenges won't be counted Tuesday or show up in election results that night.

Obama supports the troops: Urges counting of military votes

By GottaLaff

What better way to support the troops than to insist that they participate in the very democracy that they're defending:

Democrat Barack Obama's presidential campaign is encouraging state elections officials to ensure that all military personnel serving away from home are able to vote, after a Virginia law threatened to toss some absentee ballots aside.

Each state has its own rules for absentee voting, often used by troops away on duty. Obama campaign attorney Robert Bauer sent letters to every secretary of state in the country, asking them to take "all steps necessary to make sure that our military voters can vote and that those votes are counted."

How novel. Counting every vote. Imagine that.

Virginia's attorney general stepped in Monday and said all the ballots must be counted under federal law, which trumps the state law. Federal law does not require the address of a witness to be included.

For the first time in eight years, I'm feeling reassured that someone is looking out for us. All of us.

Barack 'Osama' on Rensselaer County, NY ballots

As someone who's been typing for a trazillion years, I can attest to the fact that the b isn't even in the same typing nerve area as the s. Jeebus. h/t the lovely and talented Tim.

TROY — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's last name is spelled "Osama" on hundreds of absentee ballots mailed out this week to voters in Rensselaer County.

The misspelling, which elections officials on both sides of the aisle insist was simply a typo, is causing embarrassment for the county.

''No question this is an honest mistake innocently done,'' said Edward McDonough, the Democratic commissioner. ''We catch almost everything.''

''This was a typo,'' said Republican Commissioner Larry Bugbee. ''We have three different staff members who proof these things and somehow the typo got by us.''

Officials say the flawed ballots were sent to approximately 300 voters. On row 1A Barack Obama's name is spelled Barack Osama.

note- State corrected from MI to NY thanks to Clancy.

Ohio Court Rules for McCain-Palin on Absentee Ballots

By GottaLaff

Back story here. I hate to burst our bubble, even a little bit but:

The Ohio Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that disputed absentee ballot applications mailed to state voters by the McCain-Palin campaign should be accepted by local elections officials and directed State Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to reverse her position that boards reject them. [...]

The applications at issue in Thursday's case contain a checkbox that appears on the forms -- in addition to a signature line -- for voters to state that they are qualified to vote and request an absentee ballot. The McCain camp mailed 1 million of the forms in Ohio.

In September, Brunner advised county elections boards to reject the forms if the box was not checked, even if the application had been signed, saying that without a checkmark a voter's intent was unclear. More than 3,500 ballots already had been rejected for that reason by boards, the court determined.

The court rejected Brunner's interpretation and also said that an unchecked box did not provide evidence of voter fraud. Rejecting ballots solely over the lack of a checkmark, the court wrote, served "no vital purpose or public interest."

The court was obliged to avoid "unduly technical interpretations" of election law, its order stated.

Brunner said she was "pleased" the court clarified what she called a set of "complex applications ruled" passed by the state legislature. "I will gladly follow the high court's decision," she said.

The McCain campaign cheered the ruling. "Today's decision is a win for the tens of thousands of voters whose absentee ballots were threatened as a result of Secretary of State Brunner's decision to add confusion to what should be an honest and open election process. These qualified voters are now assured that they will not be disenfranchised by Secretary Brunner's partisan attempt to keep John McCain's supporters from casting absentee ballots," said Jon Seaton, McCain-Palin Regional Campaign Manager for Seaton, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

You win some, you lose some.

Dear TPC, Here's the latest on the absentee ballot issue. Love, BradBlog

By GottaLaff

Brad Friedman, of BradBlog fame, saw our update about the Republican efforts to cage voters in the so-called "purple" states. He has an update for us, via Comments:

Thanks for the update, GottaLaff.

More details now posted here (along with the audio from my appearance today on the Hartmann show on this, as you expertly detailed!)

"McCain 'Absentee Ballot Request' Mailers Are Aggressive, But APPEAR To Be Legit"
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6378

Brad

From the responses we've gotten here in Comments, and from the calls I've heard on the Hartmann show, I'm still wary. Stay tuned.

And thanks for the update, Brad!

Attention readers: A way to help stem absentee ballot scam

By GottaLaff

I'm referring to this: "Misleading" absentee ballot applications are being mailed out by the McCain campaign to registered Democratic voters in purple (toss-up) states. The return addresses of the city clerk's offices are inaccurate, as well as other information. It's a caging tactic.

A wonderful Commenter posted this in response:

I know a reporter at a local news station here in Sacramento who's interested in doing a story, but she needs to internview someone who got one of the misleading mailers. Please shoot me an email at spin_niche@hotmail.com if you can do an interview and help me get this on the news. Thanks!

Your turn.