On February 13 the court ruled that no evidence had been presented to establish widespread problems with the counting of absentee ballots and that rejected absentee ballots from 12 of 19 disputed categories would not be counted. According to Coleman's attorney, this left approximately 3,500 ballots still open for consideration. The order also specified that parties must demonstrate that disputed ballots were legally cast, not just that they should not have been rejected, making it more difficult to argue in favor of counting remaining absentee ballots.