NATIONAL BRIEFING / MINNESOTA
The trial on the state’s U.S. Senate recount stalled on its first day when the judges said photocopies of 5,000 excluded absentee ballots couldn’t be used as evidence because Republican Norm Coleman’s campaign workers had marked on them.
Coleman’s lawsuit argues in part that local election officials wrongly rejected many absentee ballots. Democrat Al Franken has a 225-vote lead and says any flaws are not substantial enough that they resulted in the wrong man winning.
The three-judge panel hearing the case in St. Paul told Coleman’s attorneys they would have to subpoena the original ballot envelopes.
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