According to this Strib article, the 5-member state canvassing board will reject Al Franken’s 11th hour gimmick and certify Norm Coleman the winner of the US Senate election. This isn’t what Franken wanted by any means. At 1pm this afternoon, Minnesota SecState Mark Ritchie will certify Norm Coleman the winner for a second time. It also means that Al Franken, if he’s to get more ballots included, will have to win a court fight to get those ballots included. Here’s what the STrib is reporting:

DFLer Al Franken asked Monday to have rejected absentee ballots be considered in the U.S. Senate election results that are to be certified today by a state board, a move later blunted by an attorney general’s opinion that the issue should be left to the courts.

The eleventh-hour maneuvering occurred as the five-member state Canvassing Board prepared to meet at 1 p.m. today in St. Paul to review results showing Republican Sen. Norm Coleman with a lead of 215 votes out of more than 2.9 million cast.

That margin includes the canvassed results submitted by Minnesota’s 87 counties, plus an additional nine votes in Coleman’s favor that emerged from a post-election audit conducted in a sampling of about 200 precincts to check the accuracy of voting machines.

Franken faced an uphill fight before this. Post-certification fights are tougher because they necessarily include the courts. The Minnesota Secretary of State’s office issued a three-page opinion requested by Ritchie. Here’s the money quote in the opinion:

Wrote Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Raschke Jr.: “Courts that have reviewed this issue have opined that rejected absentee or provisional ballots are not cast in an election.” Improperly rejected absentee ballots can be challenged in court, he wrote.

Ritchie’s office also issued additional recount information, including a list of recount locations.

Here’s some of the additional information:

The board also will approve a list of recount procedures, already reviewed by the rival campaigns and state legal officials, that assigns duties for officials at each location, details how the ballots will be handled and documented, and allows the public to attend the counting. The panel also will serve as the canvassing board for the recount.

The Coleman recount starts tomorrow in 35 Counties. The recount is scheduled to end Dec. 3 with Wright and Winona counties. Most of the recount should be finished before Thanksgiving.

Check back here later this afternoon. I’m certain the second Coleman certification will have its share of highlights.

Technorati: Recount, Al Franken, Mark Ritchie, DFL, Litigation, Canvassing Boards, Norm Coleman, Certification, Election 2008

Cross-posted at California Conservative