Who Gets This Vote? You Decide

Legal process must run its course in Senate race, Gov. Pawlenty says

(NEWSER) - Minnesota officials turned down Al Franken’s request that he be certified as senator, the AP reports, just hours after his attorneys argued that a waiting period had passed for challenges. Though Franken emerged from the recount 225 votes ahead of incumbent Republican Norm Coleman, Coleman is challenging the result in court, the Hill adds. More»

(NEWSER) - The Minnesota recount will not be complete until next year and could be continuing even as the new Senate is sworn in, Minnesota Public Radio reports. A plan agreed to by both the Coleman and Franken camps has the secretary of state counting wrongly rejected absentee ballots by January 4, after which both candidates can appeal to the Canvassing Board. The Senate is sworn in January 6. More»

Coleman holds 192-vote lead; 5K ballots challenged

(NEWSER) - The Minnesota Senate recount is complete, but the state won't have a winner anytime soon. Not only are 133 ballots missing in Minneapolis, but the state canvassing board has yet to convene to review thousands of challenged ballots. The meeting is set for Dec. 16. Norm Coleman holds a provisional 192-vote lead over challenger Al Franken, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. More»

Decision to re-examine rejected absentee ballots raises challenger's hopes

(NEWSER) - The momentum went Al Franken's way in the Minnesota recount yesterday, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. The Democrat—trailing incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman by 303 votes with 93% of the ballots counted—picked up 37 more votes than his rival out of a pile of 171 uncounted ballots found in one county. Also yesterday, Minnesota's secretary of state ordered officials to re-examine 12,000 rejected absentee ballots, a move Franken supporters believe will help their guy. More»

Ballot challenges will take a month to decide

(NEWSER) - The marathon recount in the Senate race in Minnesota is crawling toward a resolution with incumbent Republican Sen. Norm Coleman still ahead of comedian-writer Al Franken by an estimated 210 votes out of 2.9 million ballots cast. The process has been further complicated as the number of ballots challenged by the candidates surged yesterday to 3,000, and those disputes won't be decided for another month, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune. More»