Minnesota Supreme Court deals Emmer another setback
The Minnesota Supreme Court issued the reasoning behind its decision to deny Republican Tom Emmer's petition to force counties to reconcile the number of voters with the numbers of votes cast on Election Day.
The court quickly denied Emmer's petition a few weeks ago but didn't offer the reasoning behind it. The court issued an eighteen page opinion explaining why Emmer's push to require elections officials to count the number of ballots with the number of voter signatures should not be granted.
The opinion said "Minnesota's election laws have not relied exclusively on documents signed by voters to determine the number of ballots to be counted in the election." The opinion added "It is clear the legislature intended to permit..either signatures..or voter's receipts..to count ballots."
The opinion, which was written by multiple judges anonymously, makes it more difficult for Emmer to sue on this issue. He said last week that he was waiting for the opinion before he decided to sue in court.
The ruling also comes one day before the State Canvassing Board will review several hundred ballots that were flagged by the campaigns in the recount. Democrat Mark Dayton is expected to be declared the winner when the recount is over.
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