Appeals court rules against KSTP in ballot case

Rejected absentee ballots count as private information under the state's Data Practices Act, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday, rejecting a TV station's effort to gain access to ballots that were never counted in the state's 2008 U.S. Senate race.

The appeals court on Tuesday reversed a ruling by a Ramsey County judge in a lawsuit brought by KSTP-TV, which was seeking access to thousands of absentee ballots that were rejected and went uncounted in the hotly disputed race.

After a protracted recount and court trial, Democrat Al Franken edged Republican incumbent Norm Coleman by 312 votes out of 3 million cast.

The appeals court said the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act unambiguously states that sealed absentee ballots are classified as private data until opened by an election judge, so rejected absentee ballots that have never been opened also count as nonpublic data.

Mark Anfinson, an attorney for KSTP-TV, and station officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

KSTP-TV and other Hubbard Broadcasting Corp. stations had said their goal was to build public understanding of how the process worked in 2008, and where it didn't. They sought access only to the ballots, not the outside envelopes that bear voters' names and other identifying information.

The ruling was handed down on the same day that Minnesota held its first-ever August primary election and its first test of a new, centralized system for counting absentee votes enacted after the disputed 2008 race. The goal is a more consistent, accurate count.

Secretary of State Mark Ritchie said absentee voting in Tuesday's primary was at its highest level in more than 20 years. His office reported that more than 30,000 absentee ballots had been accepted by late Tuesday morning, and that 919 had been rejected as of Monday morning.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)