## Facts

- The 2008 Minnesota general election for U.S. Senator produced an extremely close result, triggering an automatic manual recount under Minnesota law.
- A statewide manual recount was conducted under procedures approved by the State Canvassing Board after consultation with representatives of both candidates.
- During the recount process, election officials identified and counted 933 absentee ballots previously rejected as improper.
- After the recount, the State Canvassing Board certified Al Franken with 1,212,431 votes and Norm Coleman with 1,212,206 votes (a 225-vote margin).
- Coleman filed an election contest in Ramsey County District Court under Minn. Stat. ch. 209, primarily challenging absentee-ballot acceptance and rejection decisions.
- The three-judge contest court ordered 351 additional absentee ballots to be opened and counted, found Franken received 1,212,629 votes and Coleman 1,212,317 votes, and determined Franken won by 312 votes.
- Coleman appealed, asserting constitutional and statutory errors in how absentee ballots were evaluated and counted.

## Issues

1. Whether alleged county-to-county differences in applying absentee-ballot acceptance rules violated the Equal Protection Clause and required relief.
2. Whether the contest court misapplied Minnesota absentee-voting statutes by requiring strict compliance and by refusing to count additional rejected absentee ballots.
3. Whether Coleman met his burden under Minnesota election-contest law to prove errors that were sufficiently widespread or outcome-determinative to place the election result in doubt, and what deference was owed to the contest court’s findings.

## Decision

- The Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed the contest court’s judgment.
- The court held Coleman failed to prove unconstitutional arbitrary and disparate treatment of absentee voters rising to an Equal Protection violation.
- The court approved the contest court’s application of Minnesota absentee-ballot statutes requiring satisfaction of the statutory conditions for counting.
- The court concluded Coleman did not carry his burden to show errors sufficient to cast doubt on the outcome, and it deferred to the contest court’s factual findings and credibility determinations.
- Franken remained the candidate with the highest number of legally cast votes and the winner by 312 votes.

## Legal Principles

- Equal Protection in election administration is not violated by minor, non-identical applications of voting rules absent proof of arbitrary or intentional discrimination, or disparities of constitutional significance.
- Where statutes supply objective criteria for counting absentee ballots, courts may enforce those requirements and need not validate ballots that fail statutory conditions, even if similar ballots were mistakenly accepted elsewhere.
- In an election contest, the contestant bears the burden to prove that asserted irregularities are outcome-determinative or otherwise sufficient to place the election result in doubt.
- Appellate review gives substantial deference to the contest court’s factual findings, including findings based on credibility and individualized ballot determinations.

## Conclusion

The Minnesota Supreme Court upheld the contest court’s recount-related determinations and strict application of absentee-ballot statutes, finding no Equal Protection violation and no proven error sufficient to change or call into question Franken’s 312-vote victory.


Coleman v. Franken, 767 N.W.2d 453 (Minn. 2009)