In its recent order, the three-judge election contest court in Minnesota reiterated a common theme during the Coleman versus Franken Senate recount–notwithstanding the numerous questions raised regarding the fairness of the election, “Citizens of Minnesota should be proud of their electoral system, a system which has one of the highest voter-participation rates in the country.” The court emphasized: “the facts presented thus far do not show a wholesale disenfranchisement of absentee voters in the 2008 general election.” Accordingly, without any discussion of those facts, the court refused to review several groups of absentee ballots including many rejected ballots from military members. It likewise concluded, again without discussion, that there was no violation of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), the federal law designed to protect absentee military voters.
