JEFFERSON CITY (AP) - Contesting a narrow loss, attorney general candidate Margaret Donnelly filed suit yesterday in the Missouri Supreme Court, alleging some ballots in the Democratic primary were wrongly rejected by local election officials.

Donnelly lost by just 780 votes to Chris Koster out of more than 346,000 votes cast in the three-way Democratic attorney general primary Aug. 5.

She asked Secretary of State Robin Carnahan for a recount Friday. In her lawsuit today, Donnelly said she was told by Carnahan's office that the recount would not include absentee and provisional ballots that local election authorities decided should not be counted.

Donnelly's suit claims the number of ballots in question is equal to or greater than her margin of defeat.

Besides naming Carnahan and Koster, the lawsuit also lists as defendants the election officials in 26 voting jurisdictions around Missouri.

It asks the Supreme Court to either order the already-requested recount to include a review of the contested ballots or to order a separate review and recount of all absentee and provisional ballots.

A Koster campaign spokesman said Koster will campaign around Missouri during the re-count.

"We believe Secretary Carnahan and election officials around the state correctly counted the votes cast in this election," said the spokesman, Danny Kanner.

Donnelly raises many alleged problems. Her lawsuit asserts some absentee ballots were wrongly rejected because they lacked a valid signature, were not properly completed, not timely postmarked, not properly notarized, not sealed or not cast by a qualified voter, when they were.

She also alleges some provisional ballots were wrongly rejected on grounds that the voters were not eligible to cast ballots at particular polling places, the ballots were not properly completed or the voters' intent could not be ascertained when they were, in fact, properly cast.

To vote absentee, Missourians must be unable to vote in person on Election Day because of absence from their local voting jurisdiction, illness or disability, employment as a poll worker or because of religious belief.

Voters are given provisional ballots when their eligibility is in question. Election officials later determine whether they should be counted.

Provisional ballots have not historically been a significant factor in Missouri elections. In the February presidential primary, for example, more than 1.4 million people voted - almost twice the turnout of the Aug. 5 party primaries. In that February election, just 1,242 provisional ballots were cast and only 426 ended up counting.
