Copies of the absentee ballots that Coleman wants to count

Republican Norm Coleman's lawyers have convinced the three-judge panel in the Senate election trial to let them present evidence that more than 5,200 absentee ballots should be counted because they were wrongly rejected. In doing so, they argue that local elections officials' mistakes can be divided into 16 categories.

Al Franken's lawyers are expected to present a pile of rejected absentee ballots that they think should be counted. It's not known how they will organize them. Here are samples of ballots in each of the Coleman lawyers' categories, with a link to an example in the category.

Category A-1: Not counted even though the local election official actually marked the ballot "accepted." 321 ballots

Category A-2: Rejected though they were not marked as "rejected." 168 ballots

Category B: Rejected for no apparent reason, with the local election official failing to offer, in the lawyers' words, "any comprehensible reason." 163 ballots

Category C-1: Rejected for lacking a signature when a pre-printed sticker placed on the ballot envelope obstructed the signature requirement. 857 ballots

Category C-2: Rejected because election official sent voter the wrong ballot. 18 ballots

Category D-2: Rejected for lacking a voter's signature though the voter did sign the ballot envelope. 80 ballots

Category D-3: Rejected because election official couldn't match the signature on the ballot envelope with the signature on the ballot application, though both signatures may have been genuine. 830 ballots

Category D-4: Rejected because the ballot envelope was missing the address of the voter's witness, though the address could be easily ascertained, such as a spouse acting as the witness. 42 ballots

Category D-5: Rejected because the ballot lacked complete witness address information, which Coleman's lawyers called "mere irregularities or technicalities." 131 ballots

Category D-6: Rejected because officials said they lacked proof of voter's residence, though the witness indicated such proof was had been presented to them. 213 ballots

Category D-8: Rejected when an already-registered voter (who was mistakenly sent ballot materials for an unregistered voter) failed to return the registration card. 1,280 ballots

Category D-9: Rejected for lack of a valid witness though the witness was a registered voter, as required by law. 318 ballots

Category D-10: Rejected because the ballot arrived late, though Coleman's lawyers say "there was no clear evidence" the ballot arrived after the deadline. 174 ballots

Category D-11: Rejected when ballot from an overseas military service member arrived late. Coleman campaign say such ballots "should be presumed valid." 36 ballots