The 5th pile...

Posted at 6:15 PM on December 9, 2008 by Tom Scheck

To date, 125 rejected absentee ballots have been placed in the so-called 5th pile.

Local elections officials at 21 different sites have sorted the ballots to date (I'm still waiting on Dakota County). They're sorting their rejected absentee ballots to determine if any were set aside when they should not have been. The ones that had no legal basis for being rejected are placed in the 5th pile (there are four legal reasons why an absentee ballot could be rejected).

Maple Grove had the largest number of rejected absentees place in the 5th pile (31). Several cities and counties had none in the 5th pile. Norman County Auditor/Treasurer Richard Munter laughed when I asked if he sorted his rejected absentee ballots.

"All one of them," he chuckled.

Munter said the ballot was rejected because it didn't have a proper signature on the envelope.

The State Canvassing Board will consider 5th pile ballots at its Friday meeting. The board is waiting for a legal opinion from the Attorney General's office (which I'm told hasn't arrived yet) on whether the board can direct local elections officials to open and count those ballots.

Some local elections officials are not sorting the rejected absentees because they say that should be considered in an Election Contest (courts) instead of a recount (state Canvassing Board).

More cities and counties will sort tomorrow...

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