No End in Sight in Minnesota Senate Recount

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No End in Sight in Minnesota Senate Recount
By Emily Cadei, CQ Staff


With the hand recount of ballots completed, the Minnesota Senate race is now in the hands of the four men and one woman who comprise the state’s canvassing board.

The board, headed by Democratic Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and rounded out by four state judges, is now responsible for deciding which among the thousands of contested ballots should be included in the count and, potentially, decide the outcome in the race between Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken.

The Minnesota Senate contest is now the lone outstanding race of the 2008 election.

The canvassing board is slated to meet twice in the next week — first on Dec. 12 to consider the matter of incorrectly rejected absentee ballots — and then on Dec. 16 to begin reviewing thousands of ballots challenged by the two campaigns.

Those challenges are not included in the secretary of State’s tally of the recount results, completed Dec. 5, making it difficult to assess who is leading in the race.

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