Coleman v. Franken

More than 2.9 million Minnesota voters cast ballots in the November 2008 general election, including approximately 300,000 voters who cast absentee ballots. On November 18, 2008, the Minnesota State Canvassing Board (the board) accepted the consolidated statewide election report with the results for the United States Senate race: Norm Coleman (plaintiff) had received 1,211,565 votes, and Al Franken (defendant) had received 1,211,359 votes. Because the margin separating the candidates was less than one-half of a percent of the total votes counted for that office, the board directed the Minnesota secretary of state’s office to oversee a manual recount from November 19, 2008, to January 5, 2009. During the recount, absentee-ballot return envelopes that had been rejected on or before election day were reviewed, and 933 absentee ballots were identified as having been improperly rejected. At the conclusion of the recount, the board certified the election results as Franken receiving 1,212,431 votes and Coleman receiving 1,212,206 votes. Franken was certified the winner by a margin of 225 votes. Coleman filed a notice of election contest, challenging the board’s certification of Franken as the winner. Neither Coleman nor Franken claimed that fraud had occurred during the election. The trial court determined that 351 additional absentee ballots should be opened and counted. After the additional ballots were counted, Franken maintained his lead by 312 votes. Coleman appealed, alleging that the inconsistent application of absentee-ballot requirements violated the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution.