Include Me Out

I don’t know if this is just posturing, but whether it is or isn’t, it’s wrong:

Democrat Al Franken suffered a setback Wednesday when the state Canvassing Board unanimously turned down his campaign’s request to include rejected absentee ballots in the U.S. Senate recount, prompting a Franken attorney to threaten to go all the way to Washington if necessary to get them considered.

“Whether it is at the county level, before the Canvassing Board, before the courts or before the United States Senate, we don’t know yet. But we remain confident these votes will be counted,” said Marc Elias, the campaign’s lead recount attorney, who added that he won’t appeal the board’s decision.

Court? Fine. This was always going to end up in Minnesota’s courts, no matter who won. But the Senate? Sorry, Marc, but you’ve lost me.

The U.S. Senate does have the power to overturn the decision of the state government, and seat the “losing” candidate. But such power should be excercised only in extreme circumstances, such as obvious fraud that a state is willfully ignoring. If Norm Coleman had shown up at Ramsey County with 1500 ballots that all happened to be for him, and it was all caught on tape, and the GOP machine managed to keep it out of the courts, it would be a legitimate use of the Senate’s power to deny Coleman his seat, and seat Al Franken instead.

But that’s not what’s happening here. The process has thus far been pretty transparent; on philosophical grounds I disagree with the Canvassing Board’s decision not to look at absentee ballots, but the board’s decision was based on their not having authority to do so, which is certainly a fair reading of the law, even if it’s one I disagree with. Franken can now appeal to Minnesota’s courts and even to the Federal courts to adjudicate the matter, and that’s exactly what he should do. Indeed, had the Canvassing Board made the opposite decision, it would be entirely right for Coleman to seek redress through the courts; that’s what courts are there for.

But while courts and the Canvassing Board will have to adjudicate the rules and the ballot challenges, there’s nothing indicating that the process has been anything but absolutely and totally fair to this point. Yes, both sides are filing frivolous challenges, but that’s an artifact of the system that’s unlikely to change. But frivolous challenges will, presumably, be ignored once things get to the Canvassing Board. The challenges are being made fairly and openly, however, and the process has been transparent.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: I’m backing the process here. So far, the process has functioned as it was designed to, and while I hope that when all is said and done, Al Franken wins, I hope he does so legitimately. It will do the DFL and the national Democratic Party no good to ram Franken through the Senate. It will appear to be what it is — a naked power grab, one that will do far more harm to Democrats’ ability to lead than merely having 58 senators will. I urge the Franken camp and the Majority Leader to back off — now. Let the system work. And when it’s done working, respect the outcome. Because while the system isn’t perfect, Minnesota’s is better than most. And as a Minnesotan, I’ll accept Norm Coleman winning by four of my fellow citizens’ votes long before I’ll accept Franken being seated on a 58-41 party-line vote. The former is democracy; the latter is anything but.