Coleman Claims 150 Ballots Were Double-Counted

(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»

Candidates add to pile as panel starts sifting

(NEWSER) - The Minnesota state Canvassing Board began evaluating challenged ballots in the Senate recount yesterday, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports. These votes, where one of the campaigns disputed voter intent, are the last major obstacle in the count. But the campaigns say that having seen the standards, they may revive some withdrawn challenges. 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»

Board certifies results for Franken hours after court rejects Republican's attempt to count more ballots

(NEWSER) - Minnesota’s Canvassing Board today certified Democrat Al Franken’s victory in the US Senate race, hours after the state’s top court rejected Republican Norm Coleman’s plea to count 654 previously rejected ballots, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. The defeat leaves Coleman just one option. “Today’s ruling,” a Coleman lawyer said, “ensures that an election contest is now inevitable.” More»

If the two can't compromise, Senate may just seat Franken

(NEWSER) - It’s not clear what the Minnesota Supreme Court was thinking when it made the outcome of the Senate race contingent on the two campaigns working out a deal on disputed absentee ballots. Not surprisingly, the Al Franken and Norm Coleman camps, currently separated by 46 votes, are still far apart, and sniping at each other instead of settling. Franken wants all 1,346 improperly rejected absentee ballots counted, and Coleman only wants a few hundred. More»